Already a subscriber? Make sure to log into your account before viewing this content. You can access your account by hitting the “login” button on the top right corner. Still unable to see the content after signing in? Make sure your card on file is up-to-date.

The Supreme Court has ruled against Meta, dismissing an appeal and allowing a multibillion-dollar class-action lawsuit by investors to proceed over allegations of securities fraud tied to Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal.

Let’s bring you up to speed: Back in 2015, Cambridge Analytica was tied up in a major privacy scandal when it was revealed that the firm had improperly accessed data from over 87 million Facebook users to influence political campaigns. The data was obtained through a third-party app developer who used a personality quiz to collect not only the participants’ information but also that of their Facebook friends. Cambridge Analytica, which had ties to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, used this data to craft highly targeted political advertisements aimed at manipulating voter behavior.  

What’s going on now: The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by Meta that sought to block a multibillion-dollar class-action lawsuit from investors over the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal. The lawsuit alleges that Meta misled investors by failing to disclose the misuse of Facebook user data, instead portraying such risks as hypothetical in its disclosures.  

Previous fines: Meta has faced substantial penalties related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, reflecting the scale of the fallout from the data misuse. The company paid a record $5 billion fine to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2019, one of the largest penalties ever imposed on a tech company, for failing to protect user privacy. Additionally, Meta reached a $725 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit filed by Facebook users affected by the unauthorized data harvesting. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also penalized the company $100 million for misleading investors about the scope of its privacy practices and data misuse risks.

What Meta is saying: In a statement, a spokeswoman for Meta said they were “disappointed in the Supreme Court’s decision not to clarify this part of the law.” They added, “The plaintiff’s claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court.”