Ian Spalter has returned to New York-headquartered digital agency R/GA, this time as creative director in the mobile and emerging platforms group. He will work across accounts and lead projects focused on social media and digital product design to heighten brand experiences and create long-term value for consumers. Spalter was most recently VP of production management and user-experience design at Community Connect, a social-networking company that created ethnic community sites BlackPlanet.com, MiGente.com, and AsianAve.com. Prior to Community Connect, he was an associate creative director at R/GA….Olivier Gauriat has joined Madison Park Pictures, New York, as executive producer for commercials and new media content. He formerly headed production for Colgate Palmolive worldwide and earlier served as production head at Young & Rubicam, New York. Madison Park, which also has an office in L.A., is a commercial and feature film company founded by Stephen Ashkinos, Matthew Fiorello and Carsten Lorenz. Ashkinos is also the owner of New York-based Chemistry, an editorial house, and Pure, a visual effects company….Shane Diver, formerly of GSDM’s Idea City in Austin, has joined TM Advertising, Dallas, as creative director. He will handle the development of TM’s integrated interactive efforts while also working as co-creative director with Todd Connelly to help manage digital resources and projects.
Supreme Court Allows Multibillion-Dollar Class Action Lawsuit To Proceed Against Meta
The Supreme Court is allowing a multibillion-dollar class action investors' lawsuit to proceed against Facebook parent Meta, stemming from the privacy scandal involving the Cambridge Analytica political consulting firm.
The justices heard arguments in November in Meta's bid to shut down the lawsuit. On Friday, they decided that they were wrong to take up the case in the first place.
The high court dismissed the company's appeal, leaving in place an appellate ruling allowing the case to go forward.
Investors allege that Meta did not fully disclose the risks that Facebook users' personal information would be misused by Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump 's first successful Republican presidential campaign in 2016.
Inadequacy of the disclosures led to two significant price drops in the price of the company's shares in 2018, after the public learned about the extent of the privacy scandal, the investors say.
Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the company was disappointed by the court's action. "The plaintiff's claims are baseless and we will continue to defend ourselves as this case is considered by the District Court," Stone said in an emailed statement.
Meta already has paid a $5.1 billion fine and reached a $725 million privacy settlement with users.
Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon. It had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million Facebook users. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign.
The lawsuit is one of two high court cases involving class-action lawsuits against tech companies. The justices also are wrestling with whether to shut down a class action against Nvidia.... Read More