Meta agrees to pay $725 million to settle Cambridge Analytica class action lawsuit

The parent company of Facebook has agreed to pay $725 million to settle a years-long class action lawsuit.

The settlement does not include an admission of wrongdoing on Meta's part, and will have to be approved by federal judges in the Northern District of California. The most Facebook has ever paid to resolve a class action lawsuit was $725 million, according to the settlement document.

In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, it was revealed that Facebook shared data on 87 million users with a consulting firm. The scandal gained a lot of attention due to the fact that Cambridge Analytica was involved with Donald Trump. Other instances of Facebook sharing user data without proper consent were covered by the class-action lawsuit.

The law firm representing the class in the privacy case said that the historic settlement would provide meaningful relief.

A spokesman for Meta told CNBC that they pursued a settlement as it was in the best interests of their community and shareholders. The last three years have seen us change our approach to privacy.

Since the scandal, Meta has changed its data-sharing practices and no longer allows third-parties access to the same data about users.