Facebook/Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has found himself in hot water, as Attorney General Karl Racine has sued Zuckerberg for failing to protect his consumer’s data following the Cambridge Analytic data leak.
“The evidence shows Mr. Zuckerberg was personally involved in Facebook’s failure to protect the privacy and data of its users leading directly to the Cambridge Analytica incident,” Racine said in a statement about the lawsuit released Monday.
“This unprecedented security breach exposed tens of millions of Americans’ personal information, and Mr. Zuckerberg’s policies enabled a multi-year effort to mislead users about the extent of Facebook’s wrongful conduct.”
He added, “This lawsuit is not only warranted, but necessary, and sends a message that corporate leaders, including CEOs, will be held accountable for their actions.”
It is alleged in the lawsuit that Zuckerberg was “responsible for” and “had the clear ability” to control Facebook and its operations and that Zuckerberg allowed third-party firms like Cambridge Analytica to use consumer data – which was around 87 million Americans and half of the residents living in the District of Columbia.
The lawsuit was filed in December 2018 by Racine against Facebook for the data leak and according to the attorney general, this suit is being brought against Zuckerberg following evidence that was found during that litigation.
This is not the first time that Zuckerberg has been made to answer for what his company is getting up to behind closed doors. In 2019, the Federal Trade Commission fined Facebook $5 billion over the incident with Cambridge Analytica and required Facebook to abide by new restrictions regarding user privacy and how Zuckerberg’s decisions affected it.
The Cambridge Analytica leak, which several news outlets reported in 2018, concerned the London-based firm gaining access to user data in 2015 and using it to aid the presidential campaign of Donald Trump.
ABC reported that the Cambridge Analytica leak was a way for the firm to support the campaign of former President Donald Trump – considering it was tied to Facebook, which is about as liberal as you could possibly get – it does not make sense that Zuckerberg would allow a firm to have information that would help Trump.
The lawsuit notes that there were many instances where Zuckerberg personally pushed the company’s central business objective, which was, “to convince people to reveal the most granular details of who they are to Facebook – their religions, their work histories, their likes – so that it can be monetized, and Zuckerberg and his company can continue to grow even wealthier.”
Google has also had a lawsuit filed against them by Racine, again over privacy issues. Racine alleged in that lawsuit that Google misled users to gain access to their data on their locations. Attorney generals from Indiana, Washington and Texas, have now joined the fight after they filed their own separate lawsuits containing similar allegations.
If they fined zuck 5 billion where does that money go? Do they send it back to us schlubs or put it in their collective pockets? All of these fines sure as hell don’t help us little consumers. I hesitate to threaten to do anything physical or the jackboots might come for me. THEY KNOW WHERE EVERY ONE OF US IS!! Hey zuck,
send me a couple billion and I won’t tell anyone thereby saving you from being fined(?) again!
What part did he play in the fraud of the 2020 election ? Watch the movie 2000 mules.