Supreme Court allows multibillion-dollar class action to proceed against Meta

WASHINGTON – The one supreme court allows a multibillion-dollar investor class action to take place against parent Facebook Metaarising from the privacy scandal involving Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.

Justices heard arguments in November in Meta’s bid to dismiss the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided they were wrong to take the case in the first place.

The high court dismissed the company’s appeal, upholding an appeal ruling that allowed the case to proceed.

Investors argue that Meta has not fully disclosed the risks that Facebook users’ personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that claimed Donald Trump the first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.

The inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant drops in the company’s share price in 2018 after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, investors say.

Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court action. “Plaintiff’s claims are without merit and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is reviewed by the District Court,” Stone said in an emailed statement.

Meta has already paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.

Cambridge Analytica had ties to political strategist Trump Steve Bannon. It paid a Facebook app developer to access the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. This data was then used to target American voters during the 2016 campaign.

The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class action lawsuits against technology companies. Judges are also grappling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia. Investors say the company misled them about its reliance on selling computer chips to mine volatile cryptocurrencies.