09/21/2021

Shareholders Allege Facebook Paid Billions Extra to the FTC

These payments were to spare Zuckerberg in data suit

Facebook conditioned its $5 billion payment to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to resolve the Cambridge Analytica data leak probe on the agency dropping plans to sue Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg individually, shareholders allege in a lawsuit.

In suits made public Tuesday, two groups of shareholders claimed that members of Facebook's board allowed the company to overpay on its fine in order to protect Zuckerberg, the company's founder and largest shareholder. The complaints, which cite internal discussions among Facebook's board members, were filed in Delaware Court of Chancery last month.

"Zuckerberg, Sandberg and other Facebook directors agreed to authorize a multi-billion settlement with the FTC as an express quid pro quo to protect Zuckerberg from being named in the FTC's complaint, made subject to personal liability, or even required to sit for a deposition," one of the suits alleged.

Please select this link to read the complete article from POLITICO.