Mark Zuckerberg Sued By D.C. Attorney Gen. Karl Racine Over Role In Cambridge Analytica Data Scandal

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is being sued by a D.C. attorney general for his role in allowing Cambridge Analytica to collect data from American Facebook users during the 2016 election.

“The evidence shows Mr. Zuckerberg was personally involved in Facebook’s failure to protect the privacy and data of its users leading directly to the Cambridge Analytica incident,” D.C. Attorney Gen. Karl Racine said in a statement. “This unprecedented security breach exposed tens of millions of Americans’ personal information, and Mr. Zuckerberg’s policies enabled a multi-year effort to mislead users about the extent of Facebook’s wrongful conduct.”

Racine alleged that Zuckerberg knew what Cambridge Analytica was doing, but did not follow up on data security concerns. He argued that if Zuckerberg is not held accountable, other CEOs will participate in the same types of schemes thinking they can get away with it.

Racine opened a case against Facebook for violation of D.C.’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act which holds an individual responsible if they were aware of a violation at the time of occurrence in 2018. The new lawsuit against Zuckerberg specifically is founded on evidence obtained by that trial, which is still ongoing.

“Since filing our landmark lawsuit against Facebook, my office has fought tooth and nail against the company’s characteristic efforts to resist producing documents and otherwise thwart our suit. We continue to persist and have followed the evidence right to Mr. Zuckerberg,” said Racine.

Racine’s term will be up in January and he has said he will not be running for reelection. It is unclear if the next attorney general will proceed with the lawsuit.