Facebook, now known as Meta, has agreed to pay $725 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit that accused the company of sharing private user data with data mining firm Cambridge Analytica and other third parties without users’ permission. The settlement covers users who had an account between May 24, 2007, and Dec. 22, 2022. The agreement was made outside of court and Meta denies any liability or wrongdoing.
Users who are eligible for the settlement can apply online at facebookuserprivacysettlement.com or download the claim form and mail it in. A paper copy of the form can also be requested by calling the settlement administrator. The deadline to submit a claim is Aug. 25, 2023.
The amount that eligible users will receive from the settlement is still unknown as a number of factors are yet to be determined. Firstly, the court will decide how much the lawyers involved in the case will receive from the $725 million settlement, which could be up to 25%. Secondly, the amount will depend on how many other users submit valid claims and how long they were a user on Facebook during the eligible period.
Settlement payments will only be distributed after the court grants final approval of the settlement and after any appeals are resolved. The final approval hearing for the settlement has been scheduled for Sept. 7, 2023. Users who do not submit a claim will not receive a payment and will forfeit their right to sue Meta over the legal issues in this matter, according to the settlement website.
Meta has sent some users notifications from within the platform alerting them to the class-action lawsuit involving the company. To apply for the settlement, users are required to provide personal information including their name, home address, email, and how they would like to receive their share of the settlement.
The lawsuit against Facebook was filed in 2018 after it was revealed that the political consulting firm, Cambridge Analytica, obtained data on millions of Facebook users without their knowledge or consent. The data was reportedly used to influence voter opinion during the 2016 US presidential election.
The settlement covers several privacy-related claims against Facebook, including allegations that the company did not sufficiently monitor and enforce its rules on third parties who had access to user data. Facebook has faced several other privacy-related lawsuits and regulatory investigations in recent years, leading the company to implement several changes to its privacy policies and user data handling practices.
Facebook users who had an account between May 24, 2007, and Dec. 22, 2022, can apply for a share of the $725 million settlement over the privacy breach involving Cambridge Analytica and other third parties. The settlement payments will be determined after the court grants final approval and after any appeals are resolved. The deadline to submit a claim is Aug. 25, 2023, and users who do not submit a claim forfeit their right to sue Meta over the legal issues in this matter.
