Mark Zuckerberg and Meta Investors to Testify in $8 Billion Cambridge Analytica Trial

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's CEO, and investors are set to testify in an $8B trial that accuses Facebook of operating illegally by allowing users' data to be harvested without consent. The trial will focus on Cambridge Analytica's alleged misuse of Facebook data, with Zuckerberg expected to appear as a key witness.

Title: Zuckerberg and Investors to Testify in $8B Trial Over Facebook Data Harvesting

Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META), the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, is facing a high-stakes trial that will determine if the company operated illegally by allowing users' data to be harvested without consent. The trial, set to begin this week, is expected to last eight days and will be held in Wilmington, Delaware.

The trial stems from a 2018 scandal involving Cambridge Analytica, a defunct political consulting firm that accessed the data of millions of Facebook users. The firm worked for Donald Trump's successful 2016 presidential campaign. Meta's shareholders have accused the company's leaders, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg, of violating a 2012 agreement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to protect users' data.

The shareholders are seeking over $8 billion in damages, including a $5 billion fine imposed by the FTC in 2019 for violating the 2012 agreement. They allege that Facebook continued deceptive privacy practices after the agreement, and that Zuckerberg was motivated to offload his stock when he saw the Cambridge Analytica scandal was about to break, profiting by at least $1 billion.

Zuckerberg and other defendants, including former COO Sheryl Sandberg, venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, and former board members Peter Thiel and Reed Hastings, have dismissed the allegations as "extreme claims." The trial will focus on decade-old events and board meetings to determine how Facebook leaders implemented the 2012 agreement.

The case is notable because it is the first trial to allege that directors utterly failed in their duty of oversight, a claim that legal experts describe as the most difficult in corporate law. While Delaware law protects directors for bad business decisions, it does not protect them from illegal ones, even if they are profitable.

The trial comes as Meta continues to face privacy concerns and scrutiny over its training of AI models. The company has invested billions of dollars since 2019 in its privacy program. Jason Kint, the head of Digital Content Next, a trade group for content providers, has expressed skepticism about the company's privacy practices and whether users can trust Zuckerberg.

The non-jury trial in Wilmington, Delaware, is scheduled to last eight days. The outcome of the trial could have significant implications for Meta's reputation and future regulatory compliance.

References:
[1] https://theedgemalaysia.com/node/762552
[2] https://seekingalpha.com/news/4467109-zuckerberg-meta-investors-to-appear-for-cambridge-analytica-8b-trial