Meta shareholders sue Zuckerberg, Thiel and Sandberg for $8bn over FTC fines

Trade commission fined Facebook for violating 2012 data-protection agreement after Cambridge Analytica scandal

An $8bn trial brought by Meta Platforms shareholders against Mark Zuckerberg and other current and former company leaders kicked off on Wednesday over claims they illegally harvested the data of Facebook users in violation of a 2012 agreement with the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

The trial started with a privacy expert for the plaintiffs, Neil Richards of Washington University School of Law, who testified about Facebook's data policies.