1. United States
2. Va.
3. Letter

A landmark $8 billion shareholder lawsuit was filed against Meta in Delaware’s Court of Chancery on July 14, 2025. The plaintiffs include large-scale institutional investors—not activists or watchdogs. Defendants include Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg, Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, and Reed Hastings. The charges center around Meta’s surveillance infrastructure and failure to implement even basic privacy protections. Peter Thiel’s Palantir is named in connection to data mining tools that helped fuel the operation. These tools harvested sensitive user data without permission. The trial opened (July 14, 2025)— All five Meta execs were prepped and ready to testify under oath (July 16, 2025) and Meta reached a surprise settlement one day later, halting the trial and preventing testimony (July 17, 2025). While settlement halted the testimony, it didn’t clear their names. I’m writing today to demand strong, enforceable digital privacy legislation at the state level. We need protections that go beyond federal standards—especially around health and behavioral data. We need the right to opt out, the right to sue, and a ban on unauthorized third-party tracking. And we need it now. The recently enacted SB 754 is a step in the right direction (tho implementation leaves a lot to be desired here, have you visited Walmart.com recently?). For a starting point, we can look at California Consumer Privacy Act, Connecticut Data Privacy Act, and Colorado Privacy Act. But let’s make ours better and stronger, with no Palantir-sized escape hatches.