Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has reached a settlement in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit filed by shareholders who accused top executives and directors of mishandling repeated privacy breaches at Facebook.
The suit, which sought over $8 billion in damages, centered on leadership decisions that allegedly led to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where data from millions of Facebook users was improperly accessed and used by the political consulting firm during Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign.
Announced just before the trial’s second day in Delaware court, the settlement spares Zuckerberg and other high-profile defendants, including former COO Sheryl Sandberg, Peter Thiel, Reed Hastings, and ex-White House chief of staff Jeffrey Zients, from testifying under oath. Meta has declined to comment on the agreement, and the settlement amount remains undisclosed.
Shareholders argued the executives’ actions cost Meta billions in fines and legal settlements, including a record $5 billion penalty paid to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in 2019. They also questioned the timing of stock sales by top leadership.
Legal experts noted that the settlement prevents a full public accounting of how the company’s privacy practices failed. “A trial could have revealed crucial details about decision-making at Meta and any unlawful practices,” said Ann Lipton, a law professor at the University of Colorado.
Meta, not a direct defendant in the case, maintains it has since invested billions in overhauling its privacy safeguards.
Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick, the Delaware judge overseeing the case, had been expected to hear testimony through next week. The lawsuit, filed in 2018, reflected ongoing scrutiny of Facebook’s data practices and leadership accountability.
