Published: 11:20, November 21, 2025 | Updated: 11:32, November 21, 2025
Meta settles Cambridge Analytica-related claims for $190m
By Bloomberg
This undated photo shows a Meta store in Burlingame, California. (PHOTO / BLOOMBERG)

Mark Zuckerberg and other Meta Platforms Inc directors agreed to a $190 million settlement of claims they failed to rectify repeated violations of Facebook users’ privacy and improperly engineered an accord to shield the billionaire chief executive officer from personal liability, court filings show.

The amount of the settlement, disclosed in a filing Thursday in Delaware Chancery Court, had been sealed since a trial was halted in July.

A lawsuit by Meta investors claimed board members mishandled the Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal and improperly agreed to a $5 billion US Federal Trade Commission settlement to personally protect Zuckerberg.

Meta shareholders sought at least $7 billion in damages, arguing directors wrongfully overpaid in the FTC deal to prevent Zuckerberg from digging into his own pocket to cover some of the financial hit to the company.

The accord, which will be paid by an insurance policy covering Meta directors, amounts to a recovery of 3 percent. In a court filing, the company denied wrongdoing and said the settlement wasn’t an admission that it was liable.

“We are pleased that a settlement was reached that reinforces our longstanding commitment to strong corporate governance,” Meta said in a statement Thursday.

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The case centered on disclosures that an outside developer collected personal data from millions of Facebook users without their consent. Cambridge Analytica used the information after being hired by now-President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign.

Meta shareholders sued Zuckerberg and other directors – including venture-capitalist Marc Andreessen – hoping a judge would hold them personally liable for billions in fines and legal costs tied to repeated violations of the company’s privacy policies.

FTC officials fined Facebook $5 billion in 2019 after finding it violated a 2012 agreement with regulators mandating it get users’ permission before sharing their data.

The deal also requires Meta to make changes to some of its corporate governance policies, including toughening up privacy monitoring and making it harder to retaliate against employees who point out privacy missteps, according to court filings.

Meta also agreed to set up a code of conduct for directors focused on avoiding conflicts of interest and beefing up compliance with “laws and regulations,” the filings show.

Because it’s a derivative case — one that allows investors to sue board members on behalf of the company — the proposed settlement must be approved by Chancery Judge Kathaleen SJ McCormick. The $190 million in insurance payments will go back to the company rather than to any individual investor.

Lawyers for Meta investors – which include retirement funds and an individual shareholder – laid out the accords’ terms in a filing designed to tee it up for approval by McCormick. Samuel Closic, a lawyer for Meta shareholders who sued, said Thursday he was “proud of the settlement” and looked forward to presenting it to McCormick.

McCormick is the same judge who rejected Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk’s $55 billion pay package. That ruling and a handful of others — part of a court crackdown on insider conflicts of interest — prompted several companies to shift their states of incorporation to Nevada and Texas, including Tesla and Bill Ackman’s Pershing Capital. They cited alleged judicial bias against tech leaders such as Musk and Zuckerberg.

The wave of exits from Delaware, which funds more than a quarter of its budget with billions in corporate fees, led to a major overhaul of the state’s corporate laws earlier this year.

The changes were drafted by an expert panel that included former judges now practicing law at firms linked to Musk and Zuckerberg, including one involved in the Cambridge Analytica case.

Meta officials have publicly said they are weighing whether to yank their incorporation papers out of Delaware, which is the corporate home to more than 60 percent of Fortune 500 companies.

It’s unclear whether approval of the settlement will clear the way for the incorporation switch.

The case is Facebook Derivative Litigation, 2018-0307, Delaware Chancery Court.