San Diego, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/02/2018 -- An investor, who purchased shares of Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB), filed a lawsuit over alleged violations of Federal Securities Laws by Facebook, Inc. in connection with the Use of Personal Data.

Investors who purchased shares of Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) have certain options and for certain investors are short and strict deadlines running. Deadline: May 21, 2018. NASDAQ: FB investors should contact the Shareholders Foundation at mail@shareholdersfoundation.com or call +1(858) 779 - 1554.

The plaintiff claims that between February 3, 2017, and March 19, 2018, the defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that Facebook violated its own purported data privacy policies by allowing third parties to access the personal data of millions of Facebook users without the users' consent, that discovery of the foregoing conduct would foreseeably subject the Company to heightened regulatory scrutiny, and that as a result, Facebook's public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.

On May 16, 2017, it was reported that France's Commission on Informatics and Liberty ("CNIL") had fined Facebook €150,000—the maximum amount then allowed within the CNIL's authority—for "failing to prevent its users' data being accessed by advertisers." The article stated that the fine was said to be "part of a wider European investigation also being carried out in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Germany into some of Facebook's practices."

On March 17, 2018, an article was published alleging that voter-profiling company Cambridge Analytica ("Cambridge") had "harvested private information from the Facebook profiles of more than 50 million users without their permission… making it one of the largest data leaks in the social network's history." The next day, March 18, 2018, the Massachusetts Attorney General said her office was launching an investigation. On March 19, 2018, European Union officials also said they would investigate.

On March 19, 2018, an article was published entitled "FTC Probing Facebook For Use of Personal Data, Source Says," disclosing that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") is "probing whether Facebook violated terms of a 2011 consent decree of its handling of user data that was transferred to Cambridge Analytica without [user] knowledge." Under the 2011 settlement with the FTC, Facebook "agreed to get user consent for certain changes to privacy settings as part of a settlement of federal chargers that is deceived consumers and forced them to share more personal information than they intended." The article further stated that "if the FTC finds Facebook violated terms of the consent decree, it has the power to fine the company more than $40,000 a day per violation."
O
n March 20, 2018, several media outlets reported that the U.K. Parliament had summoned Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg to give evidence over the scandal involving London-based Cambridge Analytica. In a statement, the U.K. House of Commons committee on Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee said: "The Representatives from Facebook previously gave evidence to the inquiry in Washington DC on Thursday 8th February. However, Facebook has since failed to supply requested supplementary evidence to the Committee by the deadline of 14th March. Subsequent information about Facebook's connection to Cambridge Analytica raises further questions which the Committee intends to put to Facebook to answer in full." The British lawmakers stated they want to "hear from a senior Facebook executive with the sufficient authority to give an accurate account of this catastrophic failure of process."

Shares of Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) declined on March 20, 2018 to $163.30 per share.

Those who purchased shares of Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation.

Contact:
Shareholders Foundation, Inc.
Michael Daniels
3111 Camino Del Rio North - Suite 423
92108 San Diego
Phone: +1-(858)-779-1554
Fax: +1-(858)-605-5739
mail@shareholdersfoundation.com