A shareholder lawsuit seeking more than $8 billion in damages from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and current and former executives began this week in Delaware. The case stems from the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which tens of millions of Facebook users’ data was misused by a political consulting firm that supported Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.
Investors allege Meta failed to disclose the full extent of the risks related to data misuse, violating a 2012 Federal Trade Commission (FTC) consent order. According to the complaint, Facebook not only continued to share user data without consent but also removed privacy settings required under the order. The company later agreed to a $5.1 billion settlement with the FTC—the largest of its kind at the time—and paid hundreds of millions more in related legal settlements.
The shareholders argue Zuckerberg and other top executives should personally repay Meta for those costs. They claim internal governance failed to protect user privacy, thereby damaging the company and its shareholders. Testimony began Monday, with privacy law expert Neil Richards calling Facebook’s public messaging on privacy “misleading.”
The trial, held in Delaware’s Court of Chancery, is expected to last through next week and feature testimony from Zuckerberg, former COO Sheryl Sandberg, board member Marc Andreessen, and Peter Thiel. A ruling is not expected for several months.
