Will Facebook’s woes ever end? As another lawsuit hits, social media giant is still reeling

March 28--It's been more than 10 days since the Cambridge Analytica scandal exploded, and Facebook is still stuck in its worst nightmare.

The latest blow: The Menlo Park-based social media giant is being sued by three users who downloaded the social media platform's messaging app Messenger on their Android phones. The three users -- one of whom lives in California -- filed their suit Tuesday at the Northern District of California in San Francisco, alleging Facebook improperly collected their phone call and text message logs via Messenger and monetized the data for advertising purposes.

Facebook has been in scramble mode -- with no end in sight -- since news broke that Cambridge Analytica, a British political data firm, improperly collected data from 50 million Americans and used it for political means, including Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Since then, Facebook has weathered a barrage of lawsuits, issued apologies and clarifications, taken a tumble on the stock market, watched advertisers and users flee and faced renewed scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission.

Analysts are forecasting a gloomy future for Facebook, even suggesting a possible need for a structural reboot once the Cambridge Analytica fallout is cleared.

"Facebook is having an operational train wreck that has run in Cambridge Analytica's tire fire. The two can't be separated," said Pivotal Research analyst Brian Wieser. "What I came to realize after all (their issues were) put together is that Facebook has serious structural and managerial problems."

Last week, Facebook lost $58 billion of its own market capitalization. As of Wednesday afternoon's trading, its share price stood at $153.45 -- down from the $185.09 on March 16, before the data scandal went public.

Companies including Sonos, Mozilla, Pep Boys and Elon Musk's Tesla pulled their advertising with Facebook in recent days. But those losses, and the blow to Facebook's share prices and market cap, haven't stopped some analysts from speculating that the company's short-term financial future remains solid. Along with Google, the platform is still the best way for businesses to reach customers online.

"For the most part, we haven't seen any impact yet" from advertisers, said Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst covering online marketing for eMarketer. "Facebook is just too important. There is nowhere else online for advertisers to jump to."

That fact hasn't made the last 10 days any less painful for Facebook. Founder Mark Zuckerberg apologized for the "breach of trust" caused by Cambridge Analytica and now watches his company face an onslaught of lawsuits, ranging from several shareholders, including one based in San Francisco; Facebook users, including one woman asking for $500 million in damages, and Illinois' Cook County government for allegedly violating its state's fraud law.

The latest lawsuit comes on the heels of Facebook admitting on Monday that it collected phone call and text message history -- but only at the permission of the user. Facebook said it never sold this data nor collected the content of text messages or calls.

The lawsuit states that Facebook exploited a vulnerability found in the Facebook Messenger and Facebook Lite apps for Android. The apps requested permission to gain access to the phone owner's contact list, which they then used to collect logs of phone calls and text messages, according to the complaint.

Before the vulnerability was patched in October 2017, the apps were collecting phone call and text message metadata as early as 2012, when the Android "Jelly Bean" OS version was introduced, according to the technology news outlet Ars Technica.

The vulnerability went viral last week when a Twitter user, Dylan McKay, shared his findings after downloading a data archive from Facebook. McKay said he found his entire call history with his partner's mother in his Facebook data.

The plaintiffs, who are seeking class-action status, listed eight state and federal violations, including intrusion upon seclusion and trespass to personal property. Represented by the Walnut Creek-based law firm Bursor & Fisher, the plaintiffs also cited the "California Constitutional Right to Privacy", an added amendment to the state's constitution in 1974 that expressly cited the ability to "pursuing and obtaining safety, happiness, and privacy" as inalienable rights for Californians.

Amid the storm, Facebook decided to delay the introduction of its new home speaker at this year's F8 developer's conference in San Jose in May, according to Bloomberg. On Wednesday, the company introduced new features and privacy shortcuts to its site to give users more visibility and control over how their information is shared with friends, third parties and advertisers and the ability to download and delete Facebook data.

"Last week showed how much more work we need to do to enforce our policies and help people understand how Facebook works and the choices they have over their data," said Facebook's chief privacy officer and deputy general counsel Ashlie Beringer in a company blog post. "Most of these updates have been in the works for some time, but the events of the past several days underscore their importance."

Facebook is also under tight scrutiny from the federal government. On Tuesday, Zuckerberg accepted an invitation to testify before the House energy and commerce committee later this spring. The Federal Trade Commission also launched a separate investigation into Facebook's data practices on Monday.

Some Silicon Valley executives also have piled on Facebook, including Apple CEO Tim Cook in a televised interview Wednesday. When asked what he would do if he was in Zuckerberg's shoes, Cook said, "I wouldn't be in this situation."

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