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Facebook’s parent company Meta has agreed a $725 million settlement to resolve a class-action lawsuit related to the Cambridge Analytica data harvesting scandal.

First reported by Reuters earlier today, the deal follows nearly four months after news first emerged that Meta had proposed a settlement in the Northern District of California where the suit was first filed some four years ago. In the intervening years, Meta has pushed back against the lawsuit, which consolidated complaints from multiple Facebook users, arguing that those who voluntarily signed up to the social network should have no real expectations of privacy — an assertion that the judge overseeing the case in 2019 called “so wrong.”

The scandal in question — one of many to hit the world of Facebook through the years — relates to the now-defunct U.K. political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica that funnelled data from tens of millions of Facebook users through a survey app called MyDigitalLife, with a view toward influencing voters’ behavior using targeted ads. The privacy brouhaha that followed led to various fines and settlements, with Meta (then called Facebook) paying $5 billion as part of a deal with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), $100 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for misleading investors, and a modest £500,000 ($600,000) to the U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office.

It’s also worth noting that while the genesis of this class-action lawsuit was Cambridge Analytica, it expanded to include other third-parties that may have improperly used Facebook user data.

Facing the music

While Meta cofounder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg had previously testified before Congress about the scandal, his responses proved somewhat evasive and aside from a carefully controlled testimony in front of the EU Parliament shortly after, the upper echelon at Meta have not had to face any more direct questioning on the matter. However, with this impending lawsuit, Zuckerberg, former COO Sheryl Sandberg, and new COO Javier Olivan were all set to testify again at an upcoming hearing. This is something that Meta clearly didn’t want, and it’s something that clearly won’t happen now that a provisional settlement has been reached.

In the filing notifying the court of the proposed settlement, the lawyers conclude that the deal agreed between the plaintiffs and Meta was an “extraordinary outcome,” resulting in the “largest recovery ever achieved in a data privacy class-action and the most Facebook has ever paid” to end a private class-action lawsuit.

They wrote:

The amount of the recovery is particularly striking given that Facebook argued that its users consented to the practices at issue, and that the class suffered no actual damages. Plaintiffs dispute these characterizations, but acknowledge that they faced tremendous risks in this novel and complex case. In addition to the monetary relief obtained by Plaintiffs, Facebook has meaningfully changed the practices that gave rise to Plaintiffs’ allegations, as set forth in the declarations of two Facebook employees with knowledge of those facts.

However, the $725 million settlement will see Meta once again admit no wrongdoing, saying in a statement issued to Reuters that the settlement was “in the best interest of our community and shareholders.” Moreover, the settlement applies to every Facebook user in the U.S. who, if they wish to apply, will only receive a few dollars each from the pot.

The settlement has yet to be rubberstamped, though, though this is expected at a follow-on hearing on March 2, 2023.

Meta hasn’t heard the last of Cambridge Analytica though, with Washington, D.C. suing Zuckerberg personally, alleging that he was personally responsible for the failures leading to the scandal.

Facebook parent Meta to settle Cambridge Analytica class-action lawsuit for $725M by Paul Sawers originally published on TechCrunch

Google said on Friday it has appealed against the Indian antitrust body’s order against the firm over alleged anti-competitive practices surrounding Android mobile devices in the key overseas market.

The company has approached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), the nation’s appellate tribunal, to appeal against the Competition Commission of India’s October order, in which the watchdog fined Google $162 million.

“We have decided to appeal the CCI’s decision on Android as we believe it presents a major setback for our Indian users and businesses who trust Android’s security features, and potentially raising the cost of mobile devices,” a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

“We look forward to making our case in NCLAT and remain committed to users and partners.”

In October, the CCI, which began investigating Google three and a half years ago, said that it finds Google requiring device manufacturers to pre-install its entire Google Mobile Suite and mandating prominent placement of those apps “imposition of unfair condition on the device manufacturers” and thus was in “contravention of the provisions of Section 4(2)(a)(i) of the Act.”

Days later, the CCI hit Google with another $113 million fine for allegedly abusing the dominant position of its Google Play Store and ordered the firm to allow app developers to use third-party payments processing services for in-app purchases or for purchasing apps.

India is a key overseas market for Google, which has amassed over 500 million users in the South Asian market. The company, which has poured billions in its India business over the past decade, has pledged to invest another $10 billion in the country over the next couple of years.

Google appeals against India’s fine over ‘unfair’ business practices on Android by Manish Singh originally published on TechCrunch

After taking over Twitter, Elon Musk had long promised that the company is working toward making the platform more appealing to video creators. Today, Twitter updated the Twitter Blue page declaring that subscribers can now upload 60-minute-long videos from the web at 1080p resolution and 2GB in file size.

Prior to the change, Twitter Blue subscribers were able to upload 10-minute-long videos on the platform at 1080p resolution with a file size limit of 512MB. Sadly, if you’re uploading from iOS or Android, this limit is still applicable.

Twitter said that it will consider modifying the quality of the video for distribution.

“We strive to maintain the highest possible video quality for all videos uploaded to our platform. However, we may modify or adapt your original video for distribution, syndication, publication, or broadcast by us and our partners and/or make changes in order to adapt it to different media, including modifying the resolution and bitrate of the original video while streaming based on the speed and stability of the viewer’s internet connection,” the company said on a support page.

By allowing longer video uploads, Twitter will also face a challenge to tackle piracy. Users might post movies or whole episodes of TV shows and the social network’s moderators and automated systems will have to be alert about removing them quickly. Last month, when Twitter’s copyright systems stopped working briefly, users uploaded whole movies in smaller chunks. The new 60-minute video limit makes it easier for culprits to post someone else’s work.

There are also questions about monetization from these videos. YouTube shows multiple ads in longer videos, but it’s not clear at the moment if Twitter is planning to do something similar.

Along with increasing the video upload limit, subscribers will also get priority in replies. The company said that users will “see a slight preference for replies from Blue verified accounts over other replies.” This means you will see replies by paid accounts before other replies. Twitter didn’t really detail how it might handle folks who pay to troll or spam other users by getting a preference in replies.

Musk-led Twitter relaunched Twitter Blue earlier this month after a disastrous first launch in November. Now, the company is charging $11 per month to iOS users to offset App Store fees and $8 per month to folks who subscribe using the web. Earlier this week, Twitter also rolled out the Blue for Business program, which allows companies to identify their affiliated brands and workers through an extra square badge.

Notably, longer video uploads and priority in replies are the first features to be available for paid users apart from the Blue verification badge.

Twitter Blue users can now upload 60-minute long videos by Ivan Mehta originally published on TechCrunch

More than a week after being banned from Twitter, Jack Sweeney, the University of Central Florida sophomore who has been a pain in the side of Elon Musk for at least the past year, has a new account on the platform. Called @ElonJetNexDay, the hours-old account tracks the private jet of Elon Musk, but with a 24-hour delay.

Whether it’s the last chapter in an ongoing story remains to be seen, but you have to give it to Sweeney; he’s persistent.

Two years ago, the 20-year-old launched a Twitter account that used public data to automatically map the flights of Musk’s private jet, @ElonJet. Musk asked Sweeney back in January through a direct message on the platform to take it down in exchange for $5,000. “It’s a security risk,” Musk reportedly wrote Sweeney. “I don’t love the idea of being shot by a nutcase.” When Sweeney only half-kiddingly asked instead for a Model 3 or $50,000, Musk apparently ghosted Sweeney, but he did not forget him, plainly.

Instead, Sweeney wound up a headline story one very busy day last week after Musk, now the owner of Twitter, banned the account, costing Sweeney 530,000 followers. The impetus, Musk suggested on Twitter, was a car carrying his son X Æ A-12 that had been “followed by [a] crazy stalker” in Los Angeles.” Though there was no obvious tie between the account and the incident, Twitter soon after alerted Sweeney that “after careful review,” it had been “determined your account broke the Twitter rules,” without saying at the time which rules were violated.

Then Twitter kept shutting down more accounts, including Sweeney’s personal account (for violating Twitter’s rules against “platform manipulation and spam”); other accounts operated by Sweeney that tracked the air travel of other prominent individuals, including Musk nemesis Mark Zuckerberg; and a day later, numerous journalists who reported on the Sweeney story, including Ryan Mac of the New York Times and Drew Harwell of the Washington Post. (`Some remain locked out.)

Separately, Musk ratcheted up his focus on Sweeney, tweeting: “Legal action is being taken against Sweeney & organizations who supported harm to my family.”

Sweeney has continued all the while to operate his social media accounts elsewhere. Last week, he opened an account on the newer social media platform Mastadon that tracks Musk’s private jet in real time and has already amassed 67,000 followers; Sweeney also has pages on Facebook and Instagram that track the comings and goings of private jets, including that of Musk, and which enjoy substantial followings.

And now he’s back at it on Twitter, too, for now at least. According to its new rules, “sharing publicly available location information after a reasonable time has elapsed, so that the individual is no longer at risk for physical harm” is not a violation. With a 24-hour delay in reporting on where Musk’s private jet has traveled, @ElonJetNexDay would seem to fall within the confines of Twitter’s recently set safety parameters.

Still, it’s easy to interpret the account as Sweeney thumbing his nose at Musk, who has wielded his power as Twitter’s newfound owner erratically nearly from the day he hauled a sink into the company’s San Francisco headquarters in late October to make a joke about his takeover. (“Let that sink in.”)

Even Musk’s devoted followers on the platform appear exhausted by all the drama. When Musk asked them in a survey on Sunday if he should step down as the leader of the social media site, the vast majority of respondents answered that he should. Musk has since said he will step down as CEO once he finds “someone foolish enough to take the job!”

Persistent Jack Sweeney brings back @ElonJet (but delayed) to Twitter by Connie Loizos originally published on TechCrunch

Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart no longer owns a stake in payments firm PhonePe. The two said on Friday that they have completed a full ownership separation of PhonePe and shareholders in the Singapore entities of both firms have purchased shares directly in PhonePe’s India entity.

The move comes as PhonePe, which was acquired by Flipkart in 2016, moves its entire base to India. The payments startup is in talks to raise as much as $1.5 billion at a pre-money valuation of $12 billion and use some of the proceedings to buy back some shares, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Walmart continues to be the majority shareholder of both the firms.

“The Flipkart Group has developed many successful entrepreneurs and seen impactful businesses started by former employees. We are proud to see PhonePe grow and thrive as a successful organization in its own right,” said Kalyan Krishnamurthy, chief executive of Flipkart Group, in a statement.

“We are confident PhonePe will continue to scale and achieve its vision of providing financial inclusion to millions of Indians. Flipkart stays committed to its purpose to empower every Indian’s dream by delivering value through innovation in technology and commerce while helping small businesses connect to pan-India markets.”

Flipkart doesn’t plan to re-enter the consumer payments market, according to another source familiar with the matter. PhonePe announced its intention to become a separate entity in late 2020.

The separation will have some impact on Flipkart’s valuation. PhonePe, which leads the mobile payments market in India, was valued at $5.5 billion in a funding round it unveiled in late 2020. In July, Flipkart Group raised $3.6 billion at a valuation of $37.6 billion.

“Flipkart and PhonePe are proud, homegrown Indian brands with a user base upwards of 400 million each. We are looking forward to the next phase of our growth as we invest in new businesses – like insurance, wealth management and lending, while also enabling the next wave of growth for UPI payments in India. This will help propel our vision to provide billions of Indians with financial inclusion,” said Sameer Nigam (pictured above), founder and chief executive of PhonePe, in a statement.

PhonePe is the top payments app on the nation’s homegrown UPI app, commanding over 40% of the market share. India announced earlier this month that it won’t enforce a check on the market share for players operating on the homegrown payments network until December 31, 2024 in a surprising extension to the deadline that analysts said is a major a win for the market leaders PhonePe and Google Pay.

Flipkart and PhonePe complete separation by Manish Singh originally published on TechCrunch