Meta settles Cambridge Analytica scandal with Australian supervisor

Meta has agreed to pay the Australian Information Commissioner $50 million to settle civil penalty proceedings regarding the Cambridge Analytica matter.

The settlement concerns the Cambridge Analytica scandal back in 2018.

A professor at the University of Cambridge had developed an app called ‘This is your digital life.’ The application was designed to capture user data of Facebook users. The personal information the users provided via the app ended up in the hands of Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm.

Approximately 270,000 Facebook users downloaded the app. What they didn’t know is that the app not only collected their personal information but also user data from their Facebook friends. This way, Cambridge Analytica was able to obtain data from over 87 million users, including more than 300,000 Australian citizens, without their knowledge or consent.

The data Cambridge Analytica collected was used for political profiling purposes and shared with third parties to target political ads during the 2016 United States presidential elections and the Brexit referendum.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) decided to sue Facebook in March 2020. After a long legal process, Meta has now agreed to an enforceable undertaking that ends civil penalty proceedings.

The company has promised to pay a settlement of 50 million Australian dollars, or roughly €30 million, for eligible Australian Facebook users who can demonstrate they have suffered loss or damage as a result of interference with their privacy.

“Today’s settlement represents the largest ever payment dedicated to addressing concerns about the privacy of individuals in Australia. It represents a substantive resolution of privacy concerns raised by the Cambridge Analytica matter, gives potentially affected Australians an opportunity to seek redress through Meta’s payment program, and brings to an end a lengthy court process,” Australian Information Commissioner Elizabeth Tydd said in a statement.

Meta’s payment scheme is open to anyone who held a Facebook account between November 2nd, 2013, and December 17th, 2015, was present in Australia during that period for at least 30 days, and either installed the ‘This is your digital life’ app or was Facebook friends with someone who installed the app.