Accordingly, at the hearing on July 16, Meta Platforms former director Jeffrey Zients said that Facebook's Board of Directors did not make an effort to protect founder Mark Zuckerberg in 2019 when they agreed to pay a regulated fine of 5 billion USD to resolve privacy complaints, instead focusing on growth.
Mr. Zients - who was the Chief of the White House Office under President Joe Biden and was the Director of Meta Platforms for two years since May 2018, and was the first defendant to be heard on July 16, in a trial without a jury related to the compensation of $8 billion to Chief Justice of the Chancery Court of Delaware - Kathaleen McCormick.
Zients said that the Federal Trade Commission had initially demanded "tens of billions of dollars" but was willing to accept 5 billion USD and Meta felt it was important to reach a deal. There is no sign that Mr. Zuckerberg is doing anything wrong.
On the other hand, Mr. Zuckerberg - Facebook's father - is the "pusher" of the company as CEO and it is important that he continues to hold that role.
Previously, a group of Meta shareholders accused Mr. Zuckerberg and former CEO - Sheryl Sandberg in their executive roles of illegally collecting user data, the company's Board of Directors completely failed to supervise their company.
Shareholders want Judge McCormick to order 11 defendants to return Meta more than $8 billion in fines and legal fees that Facebook has paid to settle complaints about user privacy violations, violating a 2012 agreement with the Federal Trade Commission.
It is known that this lawsuit was filed after information revealed that the data of millions of Facebook users was accessed by Cambridge Analytica - a now-dexistent political consulting firm.
Other defendants include venture capital investor and current board member Marc Andreessen as well as former board members Peter Thiel, co-founder of Palantir technologies, and Reed Hastings, co-founder of Netflix.
The trial began on July 16 and is expected to last until July 25. Judge McCormick is expected to rule on legal liability and damages months after the trial ends.
