The Australian Information Commissioner announced on Tuesday that it has withdrawn its civil penalty proceedings against Meta Platforms, following a $31.85 million (A$50 million) settlement by the Facebook parent company. The lawsuit, originally filed in 2020, centered on allegations that Meta had shared personal user data with the “This is Your Digital Life” personality quiz app, a key element of the wider Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
The allegations
The lawsuit accused Meta of violating Australian privacy laws by disclosing the personal information of over 300,000 Australian users to the quiz app between 2014 and 2015. This disclosure was alleged to have occurred without the users’ consent, as part of the broader controversy surrounding the misuse of data by the consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
According to the Australian Information Commissioner, Meta breached Australian Privacy Principle 6 by using the data for purposes other than what it was originally collected for, and failed to take reasonable steps to protect user data, violating Privacy Principle 11.1(b).
Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal
The data misuse controversy first emerged in early 2018, with the Guardian reporting that Cambridge Analytica had harvested personal data from millions of Facebook users. Though 270,000 users consented to data collection via the “This Is Your Digital Life” app, the data of approximately 50 million users was ultimately exploited, allegedly to create voter profiles and target political ads.
The scandal drew scrutiny globally, leading to fines for Facebook in the United States and the UK in 2019. Australia’s privacy regulator launched its legal action against Meta in 2020, claiming that the data of 311,127 Australian Facebook users was exposed to the risk of unauthorized disclosure.
Settlement and mediation
Following the legal proceedings, Australia’s federal court ordered Meta and the privacy commissioner to enter mediation in June 2023. The settlement reached in the mediation process marks the largest ever payment in Australia dedicated to addressing privacy concerns, according to Australian Information Commissioner Elizabeth Tydd.
Meta spokespersons confirmed that the company settled the lawsuit “on a no admission basis,” signaling the closure of this chapter on past practices. Despite the settlement, the company’s involvement in the data scandal continues to affect its reputation worldwide.
