This Wednesday begins a trial of 8,000 million dollars filed by the target shareholders against Mark Zuckerberg and other managers, both current and previous, accused of illegally collecting data from Facebook users, thus violating a 2012 Federal Commission Agreement with the United States Federal Commerce Commission (FTC).
Jeffrey Zients, Chief of Cabinet of the White House during the presidency of Joe Biden and Meta director for two years from May 2018, is one of the first witnesses to declare in the trial without a jury before Kathaleen McCormick, main judge of the Delaware Equity Court.
The case will have the testimony of Zuckerberg and other accused billionaires, including former Operations Director Sheryl Sandberg, the Risk Capital Investor and member of the Board of Directors Marc Andreessen, and the former members of the Board of Directors Peter Thiel, co -founder of Palantir Technologies, and Reed Hastings, co -founder of Netflix.
The case began in 2018, after revealing that Cambridge Analytica, an already missing political consultant who collaborated with the successful US presidential campaign of Donald Trump in 2016, agreed to data from millions of Facebook users.
The FTC fined Facebook with 5,000 million dollars after the Cambridge Analytica scandal, claiming that the company had violated a 2012 agreement with the FTC to protect user data.
Shareholders demand that the defendants reimburse the FTC fine and other legal costs, which the plaintiffs estimate more than 8,000 million dollars.
In the judicial documents, the defendants described the accusations as “extreme” and affirmed that the trial evidence will demonstrate that Facebook hired an external consultant to guarantee compliance with the agreement with the FTC and that Facebook was a victim of the deception of Cambridge Analytica.
Goal, which is not a demanded part, declined to comment. On its website, the company claims to have invested billions of dollars in the protection of user privacy since 2019.
Soser context: Meta and Zuckerberg investors will face a trial of 8,000 MDD for alleged violations of privacy
Zuckerberg would have sold Facebook shares for 1,000 MDD
The demand is considered the first of this type to reach trial, claiming that the members of the Board of Directors did not consciously supervise the company. This is often described as the most difficult claim to prove in Corporate Law of Delaware.
The current and previous members of the Boeing Board of Directors reached an agreement in 2021 with similar claims for 237.5 million dollars, the greatest amount ever obtained in a lawsuit for alleged violation of the supervision. The directors of Boeing did not admit any irregularity.
In addition to privacy claims at the center of the target case, the plaintiffs claim that Zuckerberg anticipated that the Cambridge Analytica scandal would drop the company’s shares and, as a result, he sold his Facebook shares, pocketing at least 1,000 million dollars.
The defendants affirmed that the evidence will demonstrate that Zuckerberg did not negotiate with privileged information and that he used a negotiation plan of actions that takes control over sales and is designed to protect against the use of privileged information.
McCormick is expected to issue a judgment on responsibility and damages months after the trial is concluded.
With Reuters information
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