People who filed claims in Facebook’s $725 million privacy settlement in 2023 should start receiving payments in the coming weeks. The long-awaited payouts mark the next step in the resolution of one of the largest tech privacy cases in recent years.
Who qualifies and how much
On Oct. 10, 2023, a federal court granted final approval of the settlement, covering all U.S. users between May 24, 2007, and Dec. 22, 2022. The amount each claimant receives depends on how long they used the platform during that 15-year window.
People who kept an account the entire time are expected to receive the maximum payout of just over $38, while the average payment will be about $29, according to court documents.
Each user’s payment is based on “allocation points,” which were assigned for every month a person had an active Facebook account between 2007 and 2022. The total pool of money is then divided by the number of points across all claimants. That means users who were on the platform longer will receive larger payments, while those with shorter account histories will get less.
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How the data was misused
Facebook and Cambridge Analytica faced lawsuits accusing them of using millions of user profiles to gather data for political and commercial advertising. The complaints say Cambridge Analytica, along with former CEO Alexander Nix and app developer Aleksandr Kogan, used a Facebook app called the GSRApp — also known as “thisisyourdigitallife” — to collect information from about 250,000 users and tens of millions of their friends. The app misled users about how their data would be collected and used.
The law firm Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, which represented the plaintiffs, said the case was intended to seek “redress for Facebook users in the U.S. whose private content was unlawfully shared with thousands of third parties.”
The Federal Trade Commission also stepped in, filing a complaint against Cambridge Analytica in 2019 and putting settlements with Kogan and Nix out for public comment. The FTC said the two used deceptive tactics to collect personal information for voter profiling and targeting.
The court did not rule in favor of either side; the plaintiffs and Facebook agreed to the settlement to avoid the costs and risks of a trial and to allow class members to receive payments.
Meta has denied any wrongdoing.
When payments are arriving
Settlement administrators said payments began going out this month and will continue over the next 10 weeks.
Claimants whose submissions were approved are receiving emails from the settlement administrator with updates and claim ID numbers. Each recipient will also get a notice a few days before their payment is issued.
