Veteran line producer Pat McGoldrick has been named executive producer in New York for bicoastal Chelsea Pictures. Over the years, McGoldrick has worked with such directors as David Cornell, Phil Morrison, Charles Stone III, Erich Joiner, John Dolan and David Kellogg…Elizabeth Ryan has been named managing director of charlieuniformtango, a post house with shops in Dallas and Austin. She will be based in Austin and comes over from Los Angeles where she freelanced for such companies as Method Studios and Spine Inc., working with clients that included Cingular for BBDO New York, Cadillac for Modernista!, Boston, and Visa for TBWAChiatDay, New York. Prior to freelancing, Ryan served as director of development and new business at Swietlik, Santa Monica (now Cut+Run)….Ed Ethridge, veteran post producer, senior editor and design supervisor for Zimmerman Advertising in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., has launched Ed Ethridge Productions in Hollywood, Fla…..New York-based design and animation studio FlickerLab has promoted Franklin S. Zitter to producer. He joined the shop in Aug. 2004 as an associate producer….
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