TLDR: A $725M Settlement was reached between Defendant Facebook, Inc, and Plaintiffs in a class action lawsuit alleging Facebook shared or otherwise made accessible to third parties user data and data about users’ friends without permission of the users whose data was shared. You were included in this Settlement if you were a Facebook user in the United States between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022. Note it did not require you to currently be a Facebook user.

What was this all about?

Facebook has faced numerous lawsuits over the years brought on behalf of Facebook users who alleged that Facebook (now Meta Platforms, Inc.) shared or otherwise made accessible to third parties user data and data about users’ friends without permission of the users whose data was shared. Further, Facebook allegedly did not sufficiently monitor and enforce third-party access or use of that data. This data is quite valuable and it must be protected.

After many years of litigating, Meta Inc agreed to the largest data privacy settlement in company history and paid $725 million to resolve a class-action lawsuit that accused the social media giant of allowing third parties, including Cambridge Analytica, to access users’ personal information. Meta did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement and an impressive 250 to 280 million Facebook users were covered under the settlement. Check out NBC’s coverage of the case.

What did payment look like?

Per the settlement agreement, the answer depended on how many Class Members submitted valid claims and how long you were a user on Facebook during the Class Period. The Settlement Administrator assigned each approved Claimant one point for each month in which the Claimant had an activated Facebook account during the Class Period May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022. Note you did not need to have an active Facebook account.

After the deadline of August 25, 2023, the Settlement Administrator added up all the points assigned to all the approved Claimants and divided the Settlement Amount by that number. This resulted in the amount of the Net Settlement Fund available for each point. Then, each approved Claimant received that per-point amount multiplied by the number of points they were assigned. The longer you had an active profile, the more you received from this settlement.

What about monetary recovery?

Note you can always file a claim on your own in any settlement using the website. However, CCC has been around for decades helping class members recover what they are owed. If you would like to avoid dealing with administrators yourself and would like us to help you file a claim, please email us or call us at 312-204-6969

Please note we are not a claims administrator and you can always file a claim on your own.

Settlement Website: https://www.facebookuserprivacysettlement.com/#submit-claim.