An $8 billion US trial by Meta Platforms shareholders against Mark Zuckerberg and other current and former company leaders kicks off on Wednesday over claims that they illegally harvested the data of Facebook users in violation of a 2012 agreement with the U.

The trial against Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other former and current leaders, over Facebook privacy violations, has officially begun.

The first trial of oversight liability claims against a public company may prove riskier for Delaware’s elite business court and its chief judge than the expected star witness, Meta Platforms Inc. founder Mark Zuckerberg.

Meta shareholders have launched an $8 billion lawsuit against Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, Peter Thiel, and other executives, accusing them of failing to prevent the Cambridge Analytica data breach and violating a 2012 FTC privacy agreement.

Mark Zuckerberg is expected to appear as a star witness in an unusual $8 billion trial that kicks off this week at which the Meta CEO is accused of operating Facebook as an illegal enterprise that allowed users' data to be harvested without their consent.

The class action lawsuit against Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and other leaders concerns privacy breaches related to Cambridge Analytica. Investors claim Meta failed to disclose risks as Facebook violated an FTC consent order.