Meta Platforms has agreed to an A$50 million settlement ($31.85 million), Australia’s privacy authority announced on Tuesday, bringing the Facebook parent’s long-running, expensive legal procedures over the Cambridge Analytica scandal to a close.
As part of the larger issue, the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner accused Facebook of disclosing personal information about some users to its personality quiz app, This is Your Digital Life. The Guardian initially exposed the breaches in early 2018, and Facebook accepted fines from US and UK regulators in 2019.
Since 2020, Australia’s privacy regulator has been involved in a legal dispute with Meta. In March 2023, it convinced the high court not to hear an appeal, which is regarded as a victory because it allowed the watchdog to continue its investigation. In June 2023, the country’s federal court ordered Meta and the privacy commissioner to enter into mediation.
Cambridge Analytica, a division of a British consulting firm, was accused of collecting personal information from millions of Facebook users without their consent and then utilizing the information primarily for political advertising, including supporting Donald Trump and the Brexit campaign in the UK.