Facebook investors sue company over $60bn value drop

A major data breach that has sent its shares plummeting by almost £50bn has forced Facebook investors to sue the social media giant over “significant losses and damages” as a result of recent revelations.

The development is coming after reports revealed that data firm Cambridge Analytica had improperly used data from 50 million Facebook users to target American voters in the 2016 election.

Read also: Dangote earns N152bn as cement group increases dividend by 23.5%

Reports say the suit was filed by Fan Yuan, an investor on behalf of those who bought shares in Facebook between February 2017 and March 2018, claiming the technology company has made “materially false and misleading statements”.

The document does not disclose the number of shareholders but says there could be “hundreds or thousands” involved in the lawsuit which alleges that it violated its own data privacy policies by allowing a third party to access personal data.

The investors are being represented by US law firm Pomerantz, which in 2014 acted for shareholders suing BP over the collapse of its share price following the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

 

RipplesNigeria… without borders, without fears

Click here to join the Ripples Nigeria WhatsApp group for latest updates.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now