Facebook news - amended complaint filed to what I previously called "Mother of all lawsuits" - insider trading allegations tied to FB knowingly leaking data for $, paying $5B to cover it up, governance failure, etc. I'll add more context in 15 tweets and link to prior thread. /1
It includes maybe ten new paragraphs - many in insider trading and governance failure sections. Includes new heavily redacted details regarding Facebook's "board" setting up an alleged scapegoat "Special Committee" just in time to settle for $5 billion and protect Zuckerberg. /2
Reminder, the allegation is this was done to avoid Zuckerberg being deposed or having his communications subject to discovery. To end the SEC and FTC lawsuits. There is also new info on the settlement and how many orders of magnitude larger it was than prior settlements. /3
All sorts of board members bailed in that time period. The lawsuit claims it was in part due to "clashes with Zuckerberg." Again, the board, the committees, the special committee, everything pretending to hold Zuckerberg accountable is controlled by Zuckerberg. /4
Many of the allegations relate to people both benefiting and failing in their governance roles. eg it adds a # to Sheryl Sandberg's stock trades during the cover-up in the insider trading allegations allegations. It's a whopping $1.6 billion. /5
There is actually an entire list of defendants in the lawsuit categorized as the "Insider Trading Defendants." Narrator: it's generally good to avoid being labeled this way. /6
Also new is a bunch of detail on one of Zuckerberg's board members who is a partner at WilmerHale. That's insane to me since they represent Facebook in many of its most sensitive lawsuits, coached Zuckerberg when he testified and reportedly do a lotta influencing on Congress. /7
It also adds details on how Peter Thiel has benefited being on the board. When Facebook was opening its platform providing its incredibly valuable data to other companies, some of them were Thiel investments being given special access according to the allegations. /8
On that note. Reminder much of case dates back to Facebook's slowing growth ahead of IPO. They were "running out of humans" as Sam Lessin (yes, that one) noted to Zuckerberg in emails only to regain scale for advertisers by trading on their access to users' personal data. /9
As they opened up platform data, FB whitelisted and gave special access to apps which were categorized as "Mark's friends" and "Sheryl's friends" among others. It's hard to underplay the economic and relationship value of being on those lists. But no, they didn't *sell* data. /10
When Cambridge Analytica happened, leadership and PR flipped out on the word "breach." They likely did this because it didn't fit California's definition of a security breach which would require notification. Instead, the platform was leaking data by design for profits. /11
This is also new. Zuckerberg and Sandberg's admission of direct responsibility. I assume this is intended to set up why it would be wrong to simultaneously be responsible and also drive the decision to pay Billions to settle and protect their own liability from a cover-up. /12
A couple other random notes. Who knew Peter Thiel gets to decide how much Zuckerberg gets compensated? Sleep well my friends. /13
I also didn't know Papamiltiadis left just a couple months ago at the same time he was being named in these lawsuits. I betcha he has an interesting story to tell. /14
OK, that's all for now. Here is a link to my full thread from when this lawsuit was filed by very large pension funds after winning rights to inspect Facebook's books including actual messages between its board and leadership during the cover-up. /15 /eof
Just before the clock struck midnight, the Dept of Justice and Google filed their updated Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law in the adtech antitrust trial ahead of closing arguments (Nov 25th/EDVA). /1
Google clocked in at 787 pages, DOJ at 422. Much more reading but I found the most enjoyable sections to be DOJ's reminders of Google's evidence abuses along with killing the duty to deal arguments Google has been pumping through its tentacles of paid proxies. /2
"Google chose to train its employees about how to abuse the attorney-client privilege and destroy documents." This was a big freaking deal before the trial started, in all of Google's other antitrust trials and it will be here, too. Don't forget it. /3
Google break-up talks. Big hearing tomorrow fighting over discovery. One question unanswered is... YouTube. Where does it sit? Almost no mention in any of the trials (app store, adtech, search) although arguably one of the most significant "fruits" of G's monopoly abuses. /1
I use the word, "fruit," intentionally as case law says one of the four critical objectives in remedies is denying them and it's fairly unequivocal YouTube is YouTube due to the query+click scale of Google's 90%+ market share in search. YouTube is now #2 discovery surface. /2
Why hasn't YouTube come up more? I would argue it clearly wasn't needed to prove the liability in the trials. And Google's legal defenses have focused on trying to muddy the relevant market. Google worked hard but failed to bring in video (think TV, Netflix, TikTok) in market. /3
There it is. Confirmation directly from the Department of Justice that divestiture of Chrome, Android and/or Play are all on the table as remedies to Google's antitrust abuses. US DOJ's remedies framework just posted. Their final proposal is due Nov 20th. /1
It's a fairly broad, ten pages that starts by reiterating the findings of the DC Court and the duty to seek an order not only addressing the existing harms from Google's illegal conduct but - this is critically important - prevent recurrence going forward. /2
here are the listed findings in a tl;dr format. Note the point of illegal conduct for over ten years and the importance of scale and data. /3
Ka-Boom. Federal court just issued remedy for Google's app store monopoly (found liable by jury earlier this year). Note: this is on the eve of US DOJ posting its remedy framework for Google's monopolies in Search and Search text ads. And yes, adtech opinion to come... /1
Looks like 3 years (I think Epic asked for 6) on a long list of restricts to attempt to cure Google's monopoly abuse in its app store (Google Play). We'll need to do a full review but this section may be most notable for @DCNorg members. And yes, Google will likely appeal. /2
Woah. Lawsuit against Facebook for overpaying $5b+ to FTC and SEC to limit Zuckerberg’s exposure from its cover-up around Cambridge Analytica just took an interesting twist with allegations Sheryl Sandberg was using and purging a separate Gmail account for sensitive matters. /1
This is in a sanctions motion just unsealed against her and another board member (now Biden Chief of Staff). The Delaware lawsuit is brought by pension funds now deposing a number of the board members after a records inspection allowed for a derivative lawsuit. /2
It appears that the evidence of the spoliation comes from emails showing up on the other end of the communications during discovery. This is how Google’s own spoliation issues surfaced (worth noting Facebook’s Sandberg and Schrage both worked at Google so…) /3
Oh come on, Alex Heath. It's one thing to let Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spread misleading history as part of your getting access and an exclusive interview but it's another thing to do it for him. You stated this for him rather than fact-checking on what actually happened? /1
I don't even know what you're talking about here. Google wrote a check for a few million to DOJ to eliminate the claim allowing for a jury. The case wasn't settled, it's literally wrapping up this week. It was Facebook who has paid more than $5B in settlements to the govt. /2
On those $5B+ in settlements, they were due to what you're helping him rewrite history. Literally THIS WEEK, 3 cases moved in DE Chancery, DC Appeals and the freaking US Supreme Court. Facebook WROTE THIS to SCOTUS who granted cert in 9th circuit case day after Nov elections. /3