Social Media juggernaut Meta and several of its top executives, including CEO Mark Zuckerberg and former COO Sheryl Sandberg, have reportedly settled a major $8 billion shareholder lawsuit over the company’s past privacy failures. The lawsuit, which was being heard in Delaware’s Court of Chancery, claimed that the company’s board of directors failed to uphold their responsibilities by allowing years of data privacy violations.
The trial began on July 16, 2025, and was expected to last at least a week, with high-profile figures scheduled to testify. Zuckerberg, Sandberg, and other board members like Marc Andreessen, Peter Thiel, and Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings were all expected to take the stand. On the first day of the trial, former board member Jeffrey Zients (currently serving as White House Chief of Staff) testified that the company paid the FTC fine not to protect Zuckerberg personally, but to resolve the matter and move on.
However, before any of the company’s current or former executives could be questioned, the trial came to an unexpected halt. On July 17, just as Zuckerberg was about to testify, attorneys for both sides informed the court that a settlement had been reached, reports Reuters. Specific details of the settlement have not yet been made public.
Meanwhile, according to the report, Delaware Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick accepted the announcement and adjourned the trial. But it is still unclear whether any of the financial responsibility will be taken on by the individual defendants or be covered by Meta’s insurance or corporate funds. A formal agreement is expected to be filed with the court in the coming weeks.
Notably, in this lawsuit, one of the most prominent examples cited by the plaintiffs was the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, in which personal data from millions of Facebook users was improperly accessed without consent. The plaintiffs (shareholders) argued that the company’s leadership (including Zuckerberg) neglected to enforce a 2012 privacy agreement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), ultimately leading to the massive $5 billion penalty the social media giant paid in 2019. In their filing, shareholders asked for $8 billion in compensation for the damage caused by such alleged failures.
While the social media company argued that the issues raised in the lawsuit are based on past events that have already been addressed, some experts believe that ending the case without public testimony from top executives is a missed opportunity for accountability.
However, despite getting relief from this major privacy lawsuit, Meta’s legal troubles are not over yet. In another ongoing case, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 46 states have accused the company of building a monopoly by acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp. The trial began on April 14, 2025, and CEO Zuckerberg testified in court. The company could be forced to sell one or both apps if it loses. Additionally, the company was also hit with a €200 million fine in April 2025 under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) for its controversial ‘consent or pay’ advertising model. Even regulators have recently warned the company that it could face daily fines if it fails to address ongoing compliance issues.
