Facebook Users Get Access to Cambridge Analytica Docs in Class Action

Although Cambridge Analytica has declared bankruptcy, Facebook users in a privacy class action will be allowed to look at company documents.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Sean Lane recently ordered Cambridge Analytica LLC’s Chapter 7 trustee to comply with document requests from plaintiffs in a privacy class action lawsuit against Facebook and the data analytics company.

Cambridge Analytica declared bankruptcy in May 2018 after it was revealed that the company collected data from 87 million Facebook users without consent.

Plaintiffs filed a multidistrict litigation against Cambridge Analytica and Facebook last year regarding claims that the companies engaged in a data mining scheme which allowed the data firm to collect data without user knowledge.

The data allegedly collected by Cambridge Analytica was reportedly used to create detailed voter models which were sold to campaigns in the 2016 presidential election. Facebook reportedly allowed this misuse of information to occur by failing to implement sufficient security to protect their users’ information.

“Facebook, which had previously agreed to a 2011 FTC Consent Order to better protect user privacy and prevent third parties from misappropriating personal information, has admitted its neglect in ads, in interviews, and before the U.S. Congress,” the data mining class action lawsuit stated.

The data was reportedly collected through a Facebook app called “My Digital Life.” The app was allegedly described to users as a psychological research app. However, these representations were reportedly false, and plaintiffs claim that app gathered data from users and their friends.

The Facebook data mining consolidated class action includes claims of breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, violation of California’s Unfair Competition law, unjust enrichment, and more.

In July 2018, plaintiffs in the consolidated suit asked to subpoena Cambridge’s documents relating to their financial records in the bankruptcy case. The plaintiffs justified their request by arguing that the lack of information released by the data collector wasn’t sufficient.

The Chapter 7 trustee for Cambridge Analytica, Salvatore LaMonica, was initially opposed to the plaintiffs’ request for documents. However, in August 2018, he agreed to allow plaintiffs to access documents related to Cambridge Analytica’s financial condition before declaring bankruptcy. Some documents he declared subject to confidentiality or other concerns and did not include them in the subpoena request.

Judge Lane’s recent order will force LaMonica to hand over documents which were originally confidential and only to be seen by attorneys. The order will allow counsel for both the plaintiffs and Facebook to see the documents.

Facebook will have 14 days to review the documents based on the agreement’s terms. Their review will look for any signs of “personally identifiable” user data. Judge Lane has ruled that documents containing any personal user information will not be used in either the bankruptcy case or the MDL regarding the alleged data mining scheme.

The Facebook plaintiffs are represented by Michael Etkin, Nicole Fulfree and Michael Papandrea of Lowenstein Sandler LLP.

The Facebook Cambridge Analytica Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Cambridge Analytica LLC, Case No. 1:18­-bk­-11500, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

UPDATE: On Feb. 1, 2019, a federal judge is questioning the strength of Facebook users’ arguments in a class action lawsuit alleging the social networking website shared private user data with third parties. The judge states that Facebook’s disclosures about how data is captured and used are “quite vague,” however, he also says the claims of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are also relatively “bare.”