Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Frederic Legrand - COMEO / Shutterstock (Licensed)

Zuckerberg added as defendant in D.C. attorney general’s Facebook lawsuit

The D.C. attorney general said allowing third-party apps to have access to personal data was Zuckerberg's 'brainchild.'

 

Andrew Wyrich

Tech

Posted on Oct 20, 2021   Updated on Oct 21, 2021, 9:20 am CDT

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been named as a defendant in a Cambridge Analytica complaint brought on by Washington D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine.

Featured Video Hide

Racine announced Zuckerberg’s personal involvement on Wednesday morning. The lawsuit has been going on since 2018.

Advertisement Hide

The lawsuit was filed in response to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where millions of people’s personal data was collected by the firm without their permission. The scandal eventually saw Zuckerberg testify before Congress.

Specifically, the lawsuit alleged that Facebook violated the District’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act, by misleading users about how their data was secured, not monitoring how third-party apps like the app that gave the data to Cambridge Analytica were using it, and making the social media giant’s privacy settings “ambiguous.”

Advertisement Hide

“I just added Mark Zuckerberg as a defendant in my lawsuit against Facebook. Our continuing investigation revealed that he was personally involved in decisions related to Cambridge Analytica and Facebook’s failure to protect user data,” Racine said in a series of tweets. “My office filed our lawsuit in 2018, and since then, we’ve reviewed hundreds of thousands of pages of documents produced in litigation and completed a wide range of depositions including former employees and whistleblowers.

Racine added: “This lawsuit is about protecting the data of half of all District residents and tens of millions of people across the country. We’ve taken our obligation to investigate wrongdoing very seriously—and Facebook should take its responsibility to protect users just as seriously.”

Advertisement Hide

In a separate tweet, Racine said that “allowing third-party apps like Cambridge Analytica to access user data was Mark Zuckerberg’s brainchild.” He added that adding him to the lawsuit was “unquestionably warranted.”

The social media giant hoped to get the complaint dismissed, but in 2019 a judge denied the request.

Advertisement Hide

In a statement to the Daily Dot, Facebook called the allegations “meritless.”

“These allegations are as meritless today as they were more than three years ago, when the District filed its complaint. We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously and focus on the facts,” a spokesperson said.


Read more about Big Tech

Congress barrels forward with EARN IT Act, determined to end encrypted messaging online
How little tech is turning the tide in the fight against big tech
FTC warns of ‘huge surge’ in social media scams
How the FTC can use ‘data minimization’ to immediately strengthen consumer privacy
Sign up to receive the Daily Dot’s Internet Insider newsletter for urgent news from the frontline of online.
Share this article
*First Published: Oct 20, 2021, 12:56 pm CDT
 

Featured Local Savings

Exit mobile version