Australia Revokes Penalty Action Against Meta, Ending Lawsuit Linked To Cambridge Analytica
Australia revokes penalty action against Meta, ending lawsuit linked to Cambridge Analytica
Australian Information Commissioner Elizabeth Tydd has announced withdrawing the civil penalty proceedings against Meta Platforms, following a $31.85 million (A$50 million) settlement by the Facebook parent company.
Filed in 2022, the lawsuit alleged that Meta shared user data with the ‘This is Your Digital Life’ personality quiz app, a key element of the Facebook and consulting firm Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
Meta was accused of violating Australian privacy laws by disclosing the information of over 300,000 Australian users to the quiz app in 2014-2015, without their consent.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner stated that Meta breached Australian Privacy Principle 6 by using the data for purposes other than what it was originally collected for and failed to take reasonable steps to protect user data, violating Privacy Principle 11.1(b).
The data misuse controversy emerged in early 2018, after news reports emerged that Cambridge Analytica harvested data from millions of Facebook users. Though 270,000 users consented to data collection via the ‘This Is Your Digital Life’ app, approximately 50 million users were exploited, allegedly to create voter profiles and target political ads. Drawing global attention, in 2019, the scandal led to fines for Facebook in the US and the UK.
A year later, Australia's privacy regulator launched its legal action against Meta, claiming that the data of 311,127 Facebook users was exposed to the risk of unauthorized disclosure.Following the legal proceedings, the Federal Court of Australia ordered Meta and the privacy commissioner to enter mediation in June 2023.
The settlement marked the largest-ever payment in Australia on privacy concerns. Meta spokespersons confirmed that the company settled the lawsuit "on a no admission basis," which signaled the closure of past practices.
