Facebook, Cambridge Analytica sued in U.S. by users over data harvesting

Facebook Inc. and the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica have been sued in the United States for obtaining information belonging to 50 million of the social media company's users without permission.

The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court in San Jose, Calif., several hours after Facebook was blamed in a shareholder lawsuit filed in nearby San Francisco for the drop in its stock price after the data harvesting was revealed. Nearly $50 billion US of market value was wiped out in two days.

Facebook and Cambridge Analytica did not immediately respond on Wednesday to requests for comment.

Price accused Facebook and London-based Cambridge Analytica of negligence and violating a California unfair competition law.

The complaint seeks unspecified damages, including possible punitive damages.

Yanchunis, who has also been suing Verizon Communications Inc. over data breaches at its Yahoo Internet business affecting 3 billion accounts, said it should be a "fairly easy exercise" to identify potential Facebook class members.

He said cybersecurity experts can assist with the case, and that Facebook "leaves a footprint of what was taken that cannot be erased."

The case is Price v Facebook Inc. et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 18-01732. The shareholder case is Yuan v Facebook Inc. et al in the same court, No. 18-01725.