Facebook's owner META has agreed to pay $725 million in a settlement to a class action lawsuit against it for previously allowing access to and exploitation of private users' data to third parties.
The proposed settlement, disclosed in court, would end, if completed, a years-old lawsuit accusing Facebook of sharing the data of 87 million subscribers with British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
In late April 2018, investigators from the data unit of the British Information Commission began searching the headquarters of Cambridge Analytica in the capital, London, after a High Court judge granted the Commission's office permission to search the company's offices.
The judicial authorization came days after an investigation revealed that the company obtained the data of about 50 million Facebook users in order to influence their opinions ahead of the US presidential elections that led to Donald Trump's victory in 2016, as it did the same before voting in the referendum on Britain's exit from the European Union.
Facebook has admitted that the data of about 87 million users may have been leaked to the research firm, Cambridge Analytica.
Cambridge Analytica is a political consulting company that, according to Western media, used unethical methods to support political candidates and promote false news during election campaigns.
On the other hand, the European Commission said last Monday that it had warned Meta, that it was violating EU antitrust laws by distorting competition in online classifieds markets and abusing its dominance.
In a preliminary opinion, the Commission said it would investigate further and could impose a fine of up to 10 percent of the company's annual global revenue if it finds sufficient evidence of a breach of EU rules.