Incoming. Fun thread. You may remember my live tweeting a Feb 10th hearing where Facebook and its lawyers received arguably its greatest court beatdown ever for discovery on its Cambridge Analytica cover-up. Transcript just posted in parallel DC suit as evidence. It holds up. /1
Recall Facebook's lawyers (Gibson Dunn) were ordered to bring a "decision maker" from Facebook -> Solanki. "I'll chat with you in a minute." Court then invited plaintiffs to file for sanctions of FB and the partners at Gibson Dunn. Read every word (yellow is mine). It's good. /2
First, the Court goes through a couple examples (app developer investigation and turning over plaintiffs' data) that he describes as "egregious." You can read the invitation for sanctions and see if I was exaggerating the beatdown or not. Again, it's a gem - entertaining. /3
Court slams Gibson Dunn for delaying their own depositions of the plaintiffs which he suggests may also be sanctionable. Then practically begs the plaintiffs to take as much time and length as possible in their documenting for the request for sanctions. /4
I can't even summarize this part when he addresses Facebook's VP of Legal directly. Just read it. Every word. It's pure art. /5
Court makes clear on expected case of discovery going forward and orders the contents of Facebook's app audit to be turned over in 21 days. Very clearly. This is the one they've been fighting to keep privileged in DC. /6
And then this is the part where the Court suggests the plaintiffs take any depositions needed (likely including Mark Zuckerberg and Sheryl Sandberg) asap because they can do them a second time based on discovery. Due to Facebook's horsing around. WOW. /7
And then when Gibson Dunn (Mr Snyder) has the nerve to ask for the same treatment for Facebook, the Court responds "Not necessarily, based on the view I have developed about how Facebook has conducted itself thus far in discovery." /8
That's it. Are you not entertained? A lot more importantly, there are a lot of very, very sensitive documents now being turned over from the cover-up. Press have missed because many have been misled by FB on the merits of the Cambridge Analytica matter. /9
oh, and finally here is the thread I did live, if anyone wants to double check my own interpretation at the time. I tried to treat it fair and accurately based on what the Court was saying. Happy Friday. /eof
Woah. Facebook just settled immediately before board members Andreessen, Thiel, Zuckerberg, Desmond-Hellman, and Sheryl Sandberg were set to testify as to who knew what and when…depriving public of any accountability and facts in courtroom from board and officer comms. 1/3
Counter to Facebook lawyers framing yesterday, the DC AG suit isn’t dead (awaiting DC Circuit from 1/30 hearing), and NdCal shareholder suit also still alive. This is the closest to
Courtroom testimony after about $8B+ in settlements. 2/3
Credit to Reuters, Delaware Online who I saw actually showed up to cover. It’s likely why Facebook, Zuckerberg and its board, let this one get so close. But the grid. But today things were likely to get very very hot. 3/3
News cycles. News cycles. What I called the "mother of all lawsuits" for Facebook in 2021 goes to trial TOMORROW. Zuckerberg, Marc Andreessen, Sheryl Sandberg, Peter Thiel, other board members expected to testify live as to who knew what and when in its largest scandal ever. /1
Meanwhile, Zuckerberg and Facebook comms have successfully flooded the zone with AI-hype and exclusive CEO interviews mostly distracting the press away from a trial on how they leveraged, and allegedly abused, personal data to drive a decade of massive growth in mobile share. /2
The case involves allegations the board broke its loyalty to company (and Zuckerberg insider traded on stock) after Facebook had been long violating its FTC consent decree and other privacy laws - all covered up by nearly $8 billion in settlements ($5B alone with the FTC). /3
Woah. Exhibit list just posted for Facebook trial in DE starting in a few weeks. We finally have confirmation Sheryl Sandberg was deposed by the SEC - one week prior to Zuckerberg which also kept secret until a lawsuit unsealed it. Sandberg was also sanctioned in this case. /1
This matters as it gets at Who Knew What When at FB ahead of the world finding out its platform was leaking personal data for years. Zuckerberg was dodgy at best under oath to Congress, FB responses to Parliaments focused on 2018 news. But exhibits include Jan 2017 MZ emails. /2
The DE lawsuit claims Facebook's $5 billion record settlement was inflated in order to protect its CEO, Zuckerberg, and also includes (civil) insider trading claims. Zuckerberg was ordered to sit for multiple day depo this year, will have to testify live. /3
Scanning front pages across America this morning. Still today, the local A1 best captures the biggest story of the day. The majors from NY to LA to Detroit to even Arkansas. /1
From Washington DC all of the way up to the major newspapers in Alaska… the No Kings protest images are everywhere capturing the moment. /2
All of them capture peaceful protest, democracy in action, and what America is all about at a time when social media algorithms may distort what the day was all about. Illinois to Colorado. /3
Incredible work being done by the press to keep facts building on facts. Grateful. This entire WSJ report overnight starting with this lede on how White House orders sparked LA crackdown is both chilling and informative. /1
This statement. “We came to the United States for protection of what we encountered in Russia. It seems that we are encountering here what we fled.” /2
WSJ separating out cases of targeting groups who have not committed crimes but even noting here incredible resources being used against what appears to be clear, First Amendment protected activity alerted the community. Here is the must-read report. /3 wsj.com/us-news/protes…
Confession. Having watched Scott Pelley's outstanding work over nearly three decades, I almost didn't take the time to watch his W.F. commencement speech thinking the news reports told me enough of the facts. Frankly, that would have been a huge mistake on my part. Huge. 1/5
Disclosure: I'm a 60 Minutes fan. In fact, I read Don Hewitt's "Tell Me a Story" after nearly a decade in sports media and it likely tipped the scale in 2007 when I decided to jump to work at CBS. I find Pelley and team brilliant in telling stories in barely 15 min segments. 2/5
“If liberty means anything at all, it means telling someone something that they don’t want to hear. I fear there may be some people in the audience who don’t want to hear what I have to say today but I appreciate your forbearance in this small act of liberty.” - Scott Pelley 3/5