The attorney general for Washington, D.C. general sued Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg on Monday, alleging that he participated in decision-making that led to the Cambridge Analytica data breach.
Filed in D.C. Superior Court, the suit echoes charges that the office of Attorney General Karl Racine leveled last year, when it sought to name Mr. Zuckerberg as a defendant in a lawsuit it filed in 2018 against Facebook Inc., now known as Meta Platforms Inc. That motion was denied earlier this year by a judge.
In the new lawsuit, Mr. Racine's office reiterates its charge that Mr. Zuckerberg personally contributed to Facebook's lax oversight of user data. The company allowed third parties such as now-defunct political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica to obtain personal data from 87 million Americans, the attorney general's office said in a press release.
"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," Mr. Racine said in a statement. "This lawsuit is not only warranted, but necessary, and sends a message that corporate leaders, including CEOs, will be held accountable for their actions."
Meta declined to comment on the new case. Facebook has separately agreed to pay $5 billion to settle related charges by the Federal Trade Commission. At the time of that settlement, Mr. Zuckberberg said Facebook was "going to make some major structural changes to how we build products and run this company."
In denying the motion to add Mr. Zuckerberg as a defendant earlier this year, a Washington, D.C. judge ruled that the attorney general's office had waited too long to sue Mr. Zuckerberg personally as part of its case against Facebook.
The judge suggested at the time that D.C. officials might be seeking to put pressure on Mr. Zuckerberg following of failed settlement negotiations.
Mr. Racine's office disagreed with the judge's decision, contending that it had needed a long time to amass enough evidence to conclude Mr. Zuckerberg was a knowing participant.
More recently, authorities have been looking into company documents disclosed by a former employee, Frances Haugen, and reported on by The Wall Street Journal, that show the company's internal research revealed ill effects of its platforms that weren't addressed.
The company said that it has taken numerous actions that have affected its profitability to protect its users' security and privacy. It has disputed the interpretation of some documents.
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