Meta Platforms faces an $8 billion lawsuit from shareholders accusing CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other current and former leaders of unlawfully harvesting Facebook user data in violation of a 2012 FTC settlement, linked to the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal. The non-jury trial, underway in Delaware Chancery Court, has featured testimony from privacy expert Neil Richards, who argued Facebook misled users about privacy. Defendants expected to testify include Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, Reed Hastings, and Jeffrey Zients.
The case originated in 2018 after it was revealed that Cambridge Analytica had accessed data from millions of Facebook users.
An $8 billion lawsuit is underway, pitting Meta Platforms shareholders against CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other current and former company leaders over allegations that they unlawfully harvested Facebook user data, violating a 2012 settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission.
The trial began on Wednesday, featuring testimony from Neil Richards, a privacy expert at Washington University Law School, who appeared on behalf of the plaintiffs. “Facebook’s privacy disclosures were misleading,” Richards told the court.
The non-jury trial is being heard by Delaware Chancery Court Chief Judge Kathaleen McCormick.
Jeffrey Zients, former White House chief of staff under President Joe Biden and a Meta board member from May 2018, is also expected to testify later on Wednesday.
Other high-profile defendants slated to appear include Zuckerberg himself, former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, investor and board member Marc Andreessen, and former board members Peter Thiel, cofounder of Palantir Technologies, and Reed Hastings, cofounder of Netflix.
