What could Meta’s US settlement mean around the world – and what now for other claims against firm?

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Mark Zuckerberg was not forced to testify in the US lawsuit, which Meta settled on Wednesday. Photograph: Jill Connelly/Getty Images View image in fullscreen Mark Zuckerberg was not forced to testify in the US lawsuit, which Meta settled on Wednesday. Photograph: Jill Connelly/Getty Images Meta What could Meta’s US settlement mean around the world – and what now for other claims against firm? Other governments could seek similar concessions, while separate legal action is pending in places ranging from Kenya to the Netherlands

Aisha Down Fri 28 Aug 2026 05.00 BST Last modified on Fri 28 Aug 2026 05.27 BST Share Prefer the Guardian on Google I n October 2021, Abrham Meareg’s father, a professor of chemistry in Ethiopia’s northern town of Bahir Dar, was shot at close range and died outside his family home. This was in the middle of the country’s civil war.

For weeks, Facebook’s algorithm had actively promoted posts calling for the academic to be murdered, according to Meareg and Foxglove, a nonprofit organisation supporting Meareg’s lawsuit against the company in Kenya. These posts included photos of his father and his home address.

Meareg filed the lawsuit in 2022. He said he repeatedly asked Facebook to remove the posts and the company did nothing. Nearly four years later, the case has still not been heard. Foxglove said Meta, Facebook’s parent company, had “fought tooth and nail to avoid responsibility”.

Meareg said: “It’s a matter of numbers to them, a matter of statistics. It has been proven multiple times that our lives do not matter to them.”