Zuckerberg settles lawsuit over Cambridge Analytica scandal
A trial over the long-running case had just begun on Wednesday, with defendants accused of overpaying the US government in 2019 when they engineered a $5 billion settlement for alleged privacy violations in the scandal.
Sources familiar with the matter confirmed the settlement to AFP, without providing details.
The settlement comes the same day that Marc Andreessen, one of Silicon Valley's most influential venture capitalists and a board member of the company now known as Meta, was to take the stand.
Zuckerberg himself was expected in the Wilmington, Delaware courtroom on Monday.
Silicon Valley investor Peter Thiel and former Meta top executive Sheryl Sandberg were also expected to face questioning in the court.
Cambridge Analytica was a political consulting firm that was found to have improperly harvested personal data from millions of Facebook users for targeted political advertising, particularly during the 2016 US election and Brexit referendum.
The scandal thrust Facebook and Zuckerberg in particular into a political firestorm, leading to major regulatory changes and public scrutiny of tech companies' data practices.
The shareholders in the lawsuit alleged that the board members conspired to pay more to the US government in exchange for ensuring that Zuckerberg would not be named personally for wrongdoing in the settlement.
Longtime observers of the company were hoping that the trial would expose inside details of how Zuckerberg and the Facebook executives handled the scandal.
Zuckerberg was under huge pressure at the time from US and European lawmakers amid widespread allegations that Russia and other bad actors were weaponising Facebook to sow chaos around major elections in the West.
The multi-faceted case also alleged insider trading at the time of the events, with board members to be questioned about the timing of their share sales before the scandal was made public.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Maverick
3 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
US and EU clinch deal with broad 15% tariffs on EU goods to avert trade war
Deal includes $600 billion EU investments in US, more EU energy, defence purchases 15% tariff better than threatened 30%, in deal mirroring Japan's US steel and aluminium tariffs remain at 50% By Andrew Gray and Andrea Shalal The announcement came after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen travelled for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump at his golf course in western Scotland to push a hard-fought deal over the line. 'I think this is the biggest deal ever made,' Trump told reporters after an hour-long meeting with von der Leyen, who said the 15% tariff applied 'across the board'. 'We have a trade deal between the two largest economies in the world, and it's a big deal. It's a huge deal. It will bring stability. It will bring predictability,' she said. The deal, that also includes $600 billion of EU investments in the United States and significant EU purchases of U.S. energy and military equipment, will indeed bring clarity for EU companies. However, the baseline tariff of 15% will be seen by many in Europe as a poor outcome compared to the initial European ambition of a zero-for-zero tariff deal, although it is better than the threatened 30% rate. The deal mirrors parts of the framework agreement the United States clinched with Japan last week. 'We are agreeing that the tariff… for automobiles and everything else will be a straight across tariff of 15%,' Trump said. However, the 15% baseline rate would not apply to steel and aluminium, for which a 50% tariff would remain in place. Trump, who is seeking to reorder the global economy and reduce decades-old U.S. trade deficits, has so far reeled in agreements with Britain, Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam, although his administration has failed to deliver on a promise of '90 deals in 90 days.' He has periodically railed against the European Union saying it was 'formed to screw the United States' on trade. Arriving in Scotland, Trump said that the EU wanted 'to make a deal very badly' and said, as he met von der Leyen, that Europe had been 'very unfair to the United States'. His main bugbear is the U.S. merchandise trade deficit with the EU, which in 2024 reached $235 billion, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. The EU points to the U.S. surplus in services, which it says partially redresses the balance. Trump also talked on Sunday about the 'hundreds of billions of dollars' that tariffs were bringing in. On July 12, Trump threatened to apply a 30% tariff on imports from the EU starting on August 1, after weeks of negotiations with the major U.S. trading partners failed to reach a comprehensive trade deal. The EU had prepared countertariffs on 93 billion euros ($109 billion) of U.S. goods in the event there was no deal and Trump had pressed ahead with 30% tariffs. Some member states had also pushed for the bloc to use its most powerful trade weapon, the anti-coercion instrument, to target U.S. services in the event of a no-deal.
TimesLIVE
4 hours ago
- TimesLIVE
US and EU clinch deal with broad 15% tariffs on EU goods to avert trade war
The United States struck a framework trade deal with the European Union on Sunday, imposing a 15% US import tariff on most EU goods, but averting a spiralling battle between two allies which account for almost a third of global trade. The announcement came after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen travelled for talks with US President Donald Trump at his golf course in western Scotland to push a hard-fought deal over the line. "I think this is the biggest deal ever made," Trump told reporters after an hour-long meeting with von der Leyen, who said the 15% tariff applied "across the board". "We have a trade deal between the two largest economies in the world, and it's a big deal. It's a huge deal. It will bring stability. It will bring predictability," she said. The deal, that also includes $600 billion of EU investments in the United States and significant EU purchases of U.S. energy and military equipment, will indeed bring clarity for EU companies. However, the baseline tariff of 15% will be seen by many in Europe as a poor outcome compared to the initial European ambition of a zero-for-zero tariff deal, although it is better than the threatened 30% rate. The deal mirrors parts of the framework agreement the United States clinched with Japan last week. "We are agreeing that the tariff... for automobiles and everything else will be a straight across tariff of 15%," Trump said. However, the 15% baseline rate would not apply to steel and aluminium, for which a 50% tariff would remain in place. Trump, who is seeking to reorder the global economy and reduce decades-old U.S. trade deficits, has so far reeled in agreements with Britain, Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam, although his administration has failed to deliver on a promise of "90 deals in 90 days." He has periodically railed against the European Union saying it was "formed to screw the United States" on trade. Arriving in Scotland, Trump said that the EU wanted "to make a deal very badly" and said, as he met von der Leyen, that Europe had been "very unfair to the United States". His main bugbear is the US merchandise trade deficit with the EU, which in 2024 reached $235 billion, according to US Census Bureau data. The EU points to the US surplus in services, which it says partially redresses the balance. Trump also talked on Sunday about the "hundreds of billions of dollars" that tariffs were bringing in. On July 12, Trump threatened to apply a 30% tariff on imports from the EU starting on August 1, after weeks of negotiations with the major US trading partners failed to reach a comprehensive trade deal. The EU had prepared countertariffs on 93 billion euros ($109 billion) of US goods in the event there was no deal and Trump had pressed ahead with 30% tariffs. Some member states had also pushed for the bloc to use its most powerful trade weapon, the anti-coercion instrument, to target US services in the event of a no-deal.
The South African
6 hours ago
- The South African
'I don't want to clap him': Helen Zille speaks out on Liam Jacobs
Helen Zille has broken her silence on Liam Jacob's shock decision to leave the Democratic Alliance (DA) in favour of the Patriotic Alliance (PA). The former party leader claimed that there were 'no hard feelings' over the young MP's defection to the opposition. Speaking to EWN this week, Helen Zille commented on former DA MP Liam Jacob's decision to suddenly leave the party for another he had publicly criticised. She said: 'I like Liam, and I got on well with Liam. I don't want to clap him in any way. Helen hinted that there were no hard feelings on her end. She continued: 'It takes many years in politics to know that getting bashed about is part of what you bought into. And to know that you mustn't take yourself too seriously, and to know that you're going to get clapped from every single angle. You just have to dust yourself and get on with it.' The DA federal council chair alluded to Liam Jacobs's age and somewhat inexperience in politics. She added, 'Young people come in and get into the spotlight and enjoy the limelight. But the minute you get the spotlight, the next thing is that you're going to have your head cut off. And you're going to have to survive it. It takes some hard knocks to get to that point. 'I say to young people that when you get disillusioned, when you get angry, just remind yourself that there has never been a single person who left the DA who wasn't sorry afterwards'. @nexwavesa #NexWaveSA #HelenZille #LiamJacobs #ActionSA #SouthAfricanPolitics #PoliticalDrama #SAnews #WesternCapePolitics #CoalitionTalks #BreakingNewsSA ♬ original sound – nexwavesa In a Facebook Live with Patriotic Alliance president Gayton McKenzie and MP Ashley Sauls last month, Liam Jacobs revealed why he chose to leave the blue party for the green one. The 24-year-old is known for his bold questions in parliament and thought-provoking videos on social media. Liam claimed that in a recent parliamentary committee meeting, during which he critiqued the leadership of the National Arts Council, Gayton said something that touched him 'deep in my soul.' Gayton McKenzie has praised Liam Jacobs's decision to join the Patriotic Alliance. Images via Facebook: @gaytonmck He said of Gayton's words: 'He said to me, 'You call me a dictator when your party doesn't have one coloured person as a minister or deputy minister, despite coloured people making up the overwhelming majority of the vote'. When he said that, it was a moment when I swallowed my breath. At that moment, I knew it was time to come home'. He added, 'I knew I was being used. 'I feel genuinely loved and welcomed here. I am finally home'. Let us know by leaving a comment below, or send a WhatsApp to 060 011 021 1 . Subscribe to The South African website's newsletters and follow us on WhatsApp , Facebook , X, and Bluesky for the latest news.
