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Morgan & Morgan files 1st lawsuit in Facebook, Cambridge Analytica data breach

ORLANDO, Fla. — Attorneys with the Orlando-based law firm Morgan & Morgan on Tuesday filed the first lawsuit against social media giant Facebook and data company Cambridge Analytica after the personal information of 50 million Facebook users was released without their knowledge.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg discussed the revelations Wednesday afternoon, admitting that his company made mistakes after the massive data breach.

Morgan & Morgan attorney John Yanchunis filed the lawsuit on behalf of a Maryland woman who is one of at least 50 million Facebook users whose information was breached by Cambridge Analytica, the same company accused of using Facebook data to target American voters ahead of the November 2016 presidential election.

"We filed a case yesterday on her behalf and on behalf of those 50 million individuals," Yanchunis said. "In fact, the benefit of the lawsuit will extend to all Facebook users."

Earlier in the day, he said Facebook immediately banned Cambridge Analytica from using any of the company's services.

Cambridge Analytica denied that the data was used by Donald Trump's campaign and said that it deleted the data when it found out it was improperly obtained.

"Information that was scraped from at least (an) acknowledged 50 million users -- potentially more -- remains in the possession of this company," Yanchunis said. "And it hasn't been destroyed."

He said Facebook knew about the 2014 breach, did nothing about it and didn't notify affected users.

"Facebook did not adhere to its own privacy policy," Yanchunis said.

He said cyber-thieves could use users' personal information to steal their money.

The lawsuit could take as long as three years to play out in court, he said.