Meta is paying $90 million to settle a ten-year lawsuit alleging that Facebook tracked users’ online activity after they had signed off.
As of Monday, the proposed settlement was filed with the court. If approved, it would be one of the top ten largest data-privacy settlements in history.
A 2012 lawsuit alleges Facebook used plug-ins to keep track of users’ visits to third-party websites with “like” buttons between April 2010 and September 2011. While logged in, users allowed the social media site to track them, but it promised to stop after logging out.
Facebook will be required to delete the data improperly collected on users through this practice, in addition to the $90 million settlement, which would be distributed among the affected users.
A spokesperson told Variety, “Reaching a settlement in this case, which is more than a decade old, is in the best interest of our community and our shareholders, and we’re glad to move past this issue.”
After the lawsuit was dismissed in 2017, a federal appeals court reinstated the claim in 2020, finding economic harm in such a situation.
Despite Facebook‘s efforts, the Supreme Court declined to hear the case, allowing the federal appeals court’s decision to stand.
As part of a separate settlement agreement last year, Facebook agreed to pay $650 million to settle a privacy lawsuit alleging the company’s tagging feature violated an Illinois law prohibiting biometric data collection without prior notification and written consent.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Monday that the state would sue Meta over Facebook’s now-defunct facial recognition program.
