Following the Cambridge Analytica revelations, Facebook has been slammed by several lawsuits.
These not only include lawsuits from individuals, at least one of them has been filed on a state level in the US.
The first lawsuit, filed by a Maryland user in San Jose, California, concerns both the parties’ (Cambridge and Facebook’s) gross negligence and their handling of the entire fiasco. The lawyer of the plaintiff says the lawsuit is on behalf of all the 50 million people affected due to Cambridge Analytica’s data breach.
Previously, the company had been sued by its shareholders, after it lost about $57 billion in market value (or 10% of overall) in the aftermath. Facebook had been notified of its potentially-lacking security measures and permissions systems back in 2015, though, pretty much no action whatsoever was taken at that time.
Cook County’s Lawsuit
Lastly, Cook County, Illinois, is suing the social network over its breach of the state’s Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act. It blames Facebook for its negligence in handling user data, as well as Cambridge Analytica for harvesting user profiles in the name of research.
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The lawsuit can reward every affected citizen up to $50,000, if won by the county, with those 65 years or older getting up to $10,000 additional. Though this scenario won’t likely pan out, it can still cost the company hundreds of millions, and worse, trigger a chain event of lawsuits filed against it left and right.
No Comment
For now, Facebook has declined to comment on these happenings entirely, though, we’re not sure for how long. With major members in its ranks under fire, including the CEO Mark Zuckerberg, COO Sheryl Sandberg, and CFO David Wehner, the cases may just be the tip of the iceberg for Facebook.
So the down has started. Let see it will be a down and fb will get out of it