Zuckerberg to Appear in Court as Defendant... Washington DC Prosecutors Request to Court

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, is facing the prospect of standing trial as a defendant in the Cambridge Analytica case.

On the 20th (local time), Bloomberg reported that the Washington DC prosecutors requested the court to add Zuckerberg as a defendant in the Cambridge Analytica case that occurred in 2016.

Cambridge Analytica is a British political consulting firm that caused controversy by collecting data from 87 million Facebook users during the 2016 US presidential election and misusing it for political advertising.

Accordingly, in 2018, the Washington DC prosecutors filed a lawsuit against Facebook for violating consumer protection laws.

Facebook allegedly gave users a false impression that their personal information was securely managed, which allowed Cambridge Analytica to collect large amounts of user information.

The prosecutors are also reportedly focusing on Zuckerberg’s role as CEO in Facebook’s decision-making processes.

Karl Racine, the Washington DC Attorney General, stated, "It is clear that Zuckerberg played an active role in various decisions related to the management of user information."

This is reportedly the first time that US law enforcement has named Zuckerberg as a defendant.

Facebook responded to the Washington DC prosecutors’ move by stating, "We will continue to focus on the facts and actively defend ourselves."