Facebook agrees to resolve a data privacy dispute

According to a court filing, Meta Platforms Inc.’s Facebook has in principle agreed to settle a case filed in federal court in San Francisco seeking damages for allowing third companies, such as Cambridge Analytica, access to users’ private data.

The Friday brief that urged the judge to halt the class action for 60 days while the plaintiffs’ and Facebook’s legal teams finalized a written settlement left out the financial details.

In a four-year-old complaint, it was claimed that Facebook had shared user personal information with organizations like the since-defunct British political consultancy Cambridge Analytica in violation of consumer privacy regulations.

According to Facebook, its privacy policies “do not support any legal claims” and are in line with its disclosures.

An inquiry for additional information about the settlement was not immediately answered by Facebook or its attorneys from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.

Keller Rohrback and Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, the two law firms representing the claimants, both declined to comment.