Facebook users in the United States who had an active Facebook account between May 2007 and December 2022 can now apply for a piece of the $725 million financial pie that Meta paid to settle the Cambridge Analytica data scandal class action lawsuit. Claims can be submitted on the Facebook User Privacy Settlement website through August 25.
Facebook users looking to claim their (what is likely to be a tiny) piece of the settlement pie will be required to provide information like name, address, phone number, and information about their Facebook account, along with selecting an option to receive the payment. Payout options include PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, and a prepaid Mastercard.
The amount claimants will receive depends on how many claimants there are and how long they have been on Facebook. It is likely the amount received by claimants will be small, given the large number of Facebook users, and the lawyer fees (they’re the only ones to get rich in lawsuits like this) to be paid out of the relatively small fund of $725 million.
The class action suit was over a 2018 exposure of Facebook allowing Cambridge Analytica, a UK political consultant, to access significant data from up to 87 million users. Cambridge Analytica, which shut down in May 2018, reportedly used the data for voter profiling and targeting on behalf of assorted political campaigns in 2016. The information was provided to third-party app developers, business partners, advertisers, and data brokers with no oversight by Facebook.
The scandal involved a 2015 quiz app developed by Cambridge Analytica and Cambridge University researcher Aleksandr Kogan, which collected data not only about Facebook users who took the quiz, but also their connected friends on the social network, allowing CA to build voter profiles for approximately 71 million U.S. residents during the 2016 campaign.
The data collection came through an app called “This Is Your Digital Life,” which told Facebook users that the survey would be used for academic use.
The $725 million payout is the largest ever seen in a US data privacy case. It is also the most that Meta has paid to end a lawsuit.
As usual, the settlement means Meta does not admit any wrongdoing. It is subject to the approval of a federal judge. Meta still faces a lawsuit from the attorney general for Washington, DC, plus investigations by state attorneys general.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission required Facebook to pay a $5 billion fine over the privacy scandal in July 2019.