Case Updates
Final Approval Granted in $725 Million Facebook Cambridge Analytica Consumer Privacy Class Action
Bleichmar Fonti & Auld is pleased to announce that on October 10, 2023, District Court Judge Vince Chhabria issued an order granting final approval of the historic $725 million class action settlement in In re: Facebook, Inc. Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation. The settlement represents the largest recovery ever achieved in a data privacy class action and the most Facebook has ever paid to resolve a private class action. Once the appeal period has run, the order paves the way for the Settlement Administrator, Angeion Group, to begin distributing payments to the millions of class members who filed claims.
For more information on the settlement, visit the Settlement Administrator’s website at: https://www.facebookuserprivacysettlement.com/
Lesley Weaver of Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP and Derek Loeser of Keller Rohrback L.L.P. were appointed by Judge Chhabria to serve as Co-Lead Counsel for Plaintiffs in this action. The case was originally prompted by news in March 2018 that the data mining firm Cambridge Analytica had harvested information from up to 87 million Facebook users. Through discovery, the case expanded to target broader data-sharing practices by Facebook. Plaintiffs allege that Facebook granted numerous third parties access to their Facebook content and information without their consent, and that Facebook failed to adequately monitor the third parties’ access to, and use of, that information.
The hard-fought and contentious litigation was overseen by United States District Judge Vince Chhabria and then-Magistrate and now District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the Northern District of California, as well as by discovery mediators Daniel Garrie and Judge Gail Andler. Mr. Garrie also served as the Special Master for discovery disputes, and former U.S. Magistrate Judge Jay C. Gandhi mediated the settlement.
“We are pleased that the Court has granted final approval of the settlement, and immensely proud of the work our teams did to achieve this outstanding result for the class,” wrote co-lead counsel Lesley Weaver and Derek Loeser. “This settlement sets a new high-water mark for Big Tech privacy litigation and sends a strong message that ignoring consumers’ privacy rights is a costly mistake.”
For more information on the settlement, visit the Settlement Administrator’s website at: https://www.facebookuserprivacysettlement.com/
Lesley Weaver of Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP and Derek Loeser of Keller Rohrback L.L.P. were appointed by Judge Chhabria to serve as Co-Lead Counsel for Plaintiffs in this action. The case was originally prompted by news in March 2018 that the data mining firm Cambridge Analytica had harvested information from up to 87 million Facebook users. Through discovery, the case expanded to target broader data-sharing practices by Facebook. Plaintiffs allege that Facebook granted numerous third parties access to their Facebook content and information without their consent, and that Facebook failed to adequately monitor the third parties’ access to, and use of, that information.
The hard-fought and contentious litigation was overseen by United States District Judge Vince Chhabria and then-Magistrate and now District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley of the Northern District of California, as well as by discovery mediators Daniel Garrie and Judge Gail Andler. Mr. Garrie also served as the Special Master for discovery disputes, and former U.S. Magistrate Judge Jay C. Gandhi mediated the settlement.
“We are pleased that the Court has granted final approval of the settlement, and immensely proud of the work our teams did to achieve this outstanding result for the class,” wrote co-lead counsel Lesley Weaver and Derek Loeser. “This settlement sets a new high-water mark for Big Tech privacy litigation and sends a strong message that ignoring consumers’ privacy rights is a costly mistake.”