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Anyone in the U.S. who used Facebook in the past 16 years can now collect a piece of a $725 million settlement by parent company Meta tied to privacy violations — as long as you fill out a claim on a website that has been set up to pay out the settlement to Facebook users.
The settlement stems from multiple lawsuits that were brought against Facebook by users who claimed that the company improperly shared their data with third-party sources such as advertisers and data brokers. The litigation began after Facebook was identified in a privacy scandal back in 2018 with Cambridge Analytica, which allegedly scraped user data from the site as part of an effort to profile voters.
After the scandal surfaced, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg fielded questions from members of the U.S. Congress, who accused him of failing to protect users data. Meta denied any liability or wrongdoing under the settlement, according to the recently created class-action website. However, the agreement means that U.S. residents who used Facebook between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022, can file a monetary claim as long as they do so before August 25, 2023.
How do I claim money under the Facebook settlement?
Go to the claim website to file your claim online, or else print out the claim and mail it to this address: Facebook Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation, c/o Settlement Administrator, 1650 Arch Street, Suite 2210, Philadelphia, PA 19103. The entire process should take only a few minutes.
How much money will you get?
The exact dollar amount is unclear because the settlement amount per user will depend on how many people file a claim.
Also, the lawyers involved in the case are likely to take a good chunk of the settlement as part of their fees. The claim website notes that they could be awarded up to 25% of the settlement — or $181.3 million. If they receive that much, the settlement will be reduced to $543.7 million for the Facebook users who ask to be part of the claim.
When will I get the money?
Not until later this year at the earliest. The claims site notes that there is a final approval hearing for the settlement on September 7, when the court will decide whether to approve the deal and award attorneys’ fees and other costs. If the settlement is approved, the case could still face appeals, which would take an unknown amount of time to be resolved.
“Settlement payments will be distributed as soon as possible if the court grants final approval of the settlement and after any appeals are resolved,” as noted on the claims website.
If you neither file a claim nor opt out of the settlement, you give up your right to file a lawsuit, continue a suit or be part of any other litigation against Facebook about the legal issues involved in this case. You also won’t get to collect any of the settlement money, according to the site.
