Shake down is a completely unfair characterization of what's happening here. Facebook is being sued because they're alleged to be damaging their shareholders in three ways.

1. They're using corporate funds to protect Zuckerberg personally.

2. They're in violation of an FTC Consent Decree relating to Cambridge Analytica which poses a material risk to shareholders as there are financial penalties for violating the agreement.

3. They're misleading Government and Customers about what data they're collecting and how they're protecting it, which opens them up to more lawsuits and further puts shareholders at risk.

Running a public company is a two-way street. If you want access to public financing and the ability to shield individuals from personal financial/legal risk, you need to abide by certain rules relating to reporting and transparency.

If you don't want to be transparent, you don't have to IPO.