Meta CEO Zuckerberg, Board Settle $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other current and former company executives, including Marc Andreessen, Sheryl Sandberg, and Peter Thiel, reached a surprise $8 billion settlement with shareholders in a high-profile privacy lawsuit related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The lawsuit alleged that the board failed to oversee compliance with a 2012 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) agreement to protect Facebook users' data, leading to repeated privacy violations and billions of dollars in regulatory fines, including a record $5 billion FTC penalty in 2019. The plaintiffs sought to hold Zuckerberg and other executives personally liable for these fines and legal costs, but the settlement avoids public testimony and a prolonged legal battle. The case was notable for invoking Caremark claims, a rare legal theory aiming to hold directors accountable for oversight failures, with the trial marking the first time such claims reached court. Critics argue the settlement is a missed opportunity for transparency and public scrutiny of Meta's handling of the scandal. Meta was not a defendant in the suit and declined to comment on the settlement.