Australian watchdog says Meta Platforms will pay A$50M over 2020 Cambridge Analytica lawsuit

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) reached a settlement with Australia’s privacy watchdog and agreed to a A$50 million settlement to resolve a lawsuit related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

“Today’s settlement represents the largest ever payment dedicated to addressing concerns about the privacy of individuals in Australia,” Australian Information Commissioner Elizabeth Tydd said.

The Australian Information Commissioner accused Meta of violating privacy laws by disclosing personal information of over 311,000 Australian users to the “This is Your Digital Life” app without their consent. This app was central to the broader Cambridge Analytica controversy, which involved the unauthorized harvesting of user data for political profiling purposes.

The settlement requires Meta (META) to establish a payment scheme for eligible users who had accounts between November 2, 2013, and December 17, 2015; were present in Australia for more than 30 days during that period; and either installed the app or were Facebook friends with an individual who installed the app.

“This also applies to global corporations that operate here. Australians need assurance that whenever they provide their personal information to an organization, they are protected by the Privacy Act wherever that information goes.” Commissioner Tydd added.