50 million FB users who had their data harvested by Cambridge Aanalytica may be entitled to a hefty sum as compensation
Each individual may get £12,500 ($17,500)(Rs 11.38 in Indian currency) as compensation if millions of Facebook users file a claim for damages for distress caused due to data breach by Cambridge Analytica.
A noted lawyer has reportedly said the data breach victims can get their hands on a serious amount of cash if they want to. Law professor Dr Maureen Mapp reportedly told The Sun that the social media giant could be hit with a bill of up to $880 billion.
As per Dr. Mapp, the 50 million users who had their data harvested by Cambridge Analytics can be entitled to a hefty sum as compensation, VT.CO news site reported on Saturday.
“There are about 50 million users whose data was harvested. Assuming each one of them brought a claim for compensation for distress caused by the data breach… each individual may be awarded £12,500 ($17,500) as damages,” The Sun quoted Dr. Mapp having said.
Given that Facebook’s value currently sits at $445 billion, if such a claim was ever brought to fruition it could have dire consequences for the company.
But a data protection lawyer David Barda reportedly said the amount would be significantly less. “I think a much more realistic figure is £500 ($700) per claimant,” he told The Sun.
“The amount of compensation will depend on the level of distress suffered, but Facebook could be facing claims of up to £500 ($700) per Facebook user if those users were able to demonstrate their distress,” Barda was reported as saying.
Ever since the data breach reports by Cambridge Analytica, Facebook has found itself in the troubled waters. There has been the fall in the stock price of the world-famous social networking site, with a vast reach across the globe as there are reports of Facebook users deleting their profiles over mistrust and mismanagement of their personal data.
Concerned over the falling stock price of his company, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg issued an apology promising that the company will rectify its errors and “build a better service for the long term.”
“We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can’t then we don’t deserve to serve you, “Zuckerburg reportedly said. Following is the statement issued by the Facebook founder
“I’ve been working to understand exactly what happened and how to make sure this doesn’t happen again. The good news is that the most important actions to prevent this from happening again today we have already taken years ago. But we also made mistakes, there’s more to do, and we need to step up and do it.
“I started Facebook, and at the end of the day I’m responsible for what happens on our platform. I’m serious about doing what it takes to protect our community.
“While this specific issue involving Cambridge Analytica should no longer happen with new apps today, that doesn’t change what happened in the past.
“We will learn from this experience to secure our platform further and make our community safer for everyone going forward. I want to thank all of you who continue to believe in our mission and work to build this community together.
“I know it takes longer to fix all these issues than we’d like, but I promise you we’ll work through this and build a better service over the long term.”
