Cambridge Analytica Scandal Costs Meta $31.85M in Australian Settlement

• The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner has announced Meta will pay millions in damages over the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
• Meta’s settlement has been called the “largest ever payment dedicated to addressing concerns about the privacy of individuals in Australia.”
• The Cambridge Analytica scandal reportedly impacted approximately 87 million Facebook users.

Meta has agreed to pay $31.85 million (A$50 million) to potentially thousands of individuals whose Facebook data was collected during the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The settlement ends a four-year legal battle with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC), which alleges that 311,127 Australian Facebook users were impacted.

Cambridge Analytica Scandal

The Cambridge Analytica scandal erupted in 2018, revealing how the personal data of millions of Facebook users had been harvested without their consent.

Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm, accessed data from approximately 87 million Facebook users through a third-party app called This Is Your Digital Life.

Initially designed as a personality quiz, the app collected users’ responses and data from their Facebook friends.

The scandal came to light when whistleblower Christopher Wylie, a former employee of Cambridge Analytica, disclosed to the Guardian  that the company had used this data to build detailed psychological profiles of voters.

These profiles were then allegedly used to create targeted political advertising campaigns during key elections, including the 2016 U.S. presidential election and the Brexit referendum.

Australian Settlement

Australian information commissioner Elizabeth Tydd said  the new settlement was “the largest ever payment dedicated to addressing concerns about the privacy of individuals in Australia.”

“It represents a substantive resolution of privacy concerns raised by the Cambridge Analytica matter; gives potentially affected Australians an opportunity to seek redress through Meta’s payment program; and brings to an end a lengthy court process.”

The social media giant has been ordered to set up a payment scheme run by a third-party operator starting next year to compensate those affected.

To be eligible for compensation, individuals will need to have had a Facebook account between 2 November 2013 and 17 December 2015.

They will also need to have installed the This Is Your Digital Life app or be friends with someone who had been present in Australia for at least 30 days during the highlighted time period, the OAIC said.

The OAIC estimated that people can apply for compensation by the second quarter of 2025.

Big Tech Data Practices Under Microscope

Big tech companies are increasingly facing scrutiny for their data collection practices and the measures they take to protect user data.

In September, the EU privacy watchdog launched an inquiry into whether Google adequately protected  the personal data of European users before using it to train its AI model.

This mirrors a similar crackdown in July on Meta’s plan  to use customers’ personal data to train its AI models. A series of privacy advocates sent legal complaints in the EU and the UK to prevent the practice, claiming it violated the General Data Protection Regulation.

Shortly after the backlash, Meta announced  it had delayed the plans.

“We’re delaying our change to the use of your information to develop and improve AI at Meta,” the company wrote in a statement.