At the time, AG Racine said, “Facebook failed to protect the privacy of its users and deceived them about who had access to their data and how it was used.” He added that the company “put users at risk of manipulation…”
AG Racine’s lawsuit stemmed from Facebook’s disclosure that the personal data of 87 million users were improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica.
Since the company’s disclosure of the breach, several U.S. and European regulators launched investigations into its privacy practices. Cambridge Analytica filed for bankruptcy and shut down all of its operations.
If AG Racine wins the litigation, the D.C. Court could impose a civil penalty of up to $5,000 per violations of the state’s consumer protection. There is a possibility it could reach around $1.7 billion if Facebook will be penalized for every consumer affected by the data breach.
