WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� The is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors鈥� lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent , stemming from the privacy scandal involving the political consulting firm.
The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.
The high court dismissed the company鈥檚 appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.
Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported 鈥檚 first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.
Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company鈥檚 shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. 鈥淭he plaintiff鈥檚 claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court,鈥� Stone said in an emailed statement.
Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.
Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist . It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against . Investors say the company misled them about its dependence on selling computer chips for the mining of volatile cryptocurrency.
Associated Press, The Associated Press
