US Supreme Court avoids decision on shareholder lawsuit against Meta

The Supreme Court of the United States avoided making a landmark decision in a case in which shareholders are suing Meta's Facebook for alleged securities fraud. They accuse the social network of misleading investors about the misuse of user data. The justices heard arguments in this case on November 6 and decided to reject Facebook's appeal against a previous court ruling led by Amalgamated Bank. The Supreme Court ruling, which included no further explanations, leaves the decision to the lower court and ensures that the lawsuit proceeds. The disputes concern Facebook's failure to inform investors about a 2015 data breach in which the British consulting firm Cambridge Analytica is said to have misused more than 30 million user data. In addition to the Facebook lawsuit, the Supreme Court dealt with another case regarding Nvidia, which also involves securities fraud issues. The court has not yet made a decision in this matter. Facebook had argued that the risk warnings for investors were forward-looking statements and therefore not obligated to report past incidents. The case is related to the 2016 U.S. presidential election campaign and led to multiple investigations and significant penalties for Facebook, including a $100 million settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and a separate $5 billion fine by the Federal Trade Commission.