Meta Files to Settle Location Tracking Lawsuit for $37.5 Million: Report

Meta has reportedly reached a $37.5 million (roughly Rs. 300 crore) settlement in a lawsuit that alleged that the company had violated the privacy of its users by collecting its location without their permission. The firm was accused of collecting location data of its users without asking for their consent, even after the location services were turned off on on their smartphones, by inferring details from their internet protocol (IP) addresses to serve them targeted advertising. 

Facebook parent company Meta on Monday filed a motion to settle the lawsuit in a San Francisco federal court in the US, according to a report by Reuters. As previously mentioned, the lawsuit claimed that Meta collected the private details of its users, including their location, even when they had location services turned off. 

Users in the US who used the company’s Facebook social networking service after January 30, 2015, will be covered by the settlement, according to the report.

The lawsuit had alleged that users were served targeted ads based on their location from their IP addresses, which revealed their locations to Facebook.  

As per the report, the lawsuit against Facebook started in November 2018, after the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg told the US Congress that the firm used location information to help advertisers target users in particular areas. However, the company had denied wrongdoing in the lawsuit, according to the report.