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Ohio retirement fund sues Facebook over investment loss

The lawsuit says the company broke federal securities law by purposely misleading the public about its product’s negative effect on children.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Revelations about alleged misleading actions by Facebook led to billions in losses to investors, according to a federal lawsuit filed against the social media giant by Ohio's largest public pension fund.

The lawsuit by the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System says the company broke federal securities law by purposely misleading the public about its product’s negative effect on children. The claims are based on allegations detailed earlier this year by a former Facebook employee turned whistleblower.

Facebook also knew that its platform facilitated dissention, illegal activity, and violent extremism, but refused to correct it, said the lawsuit, filed last week in federal court in California by the office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

Concealing these actions led to artificially high stock prices for the company and then cost investors including OPERS more than $100 billion in market losses resulting from negative publicity after the allegations were made public, according to Yost, whose office is seeking financial damages from Facebook.

A Facebook spokesperson said the lawsuit was without merit and the company would “vigorously defend" itself.

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