You may be entitled to a piece of a $725 million settlement Meta agreed to pay in a class action lawsuit.
Eligible users are those who had a Facebook account from May 24, 2007 through December 22, 2022 – these individuals must submit a claim here by August 25, 2023.
The lawsuit, in which Meta admitted no wrongdoing, claims the social media platform made user data and data about users’ friends without permission available to third parties.
It stems from the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, which claimed the company had misused data from tens of millions of Facebook accounts by allowing access to third parties.
Cambridge Analytica had previously claimed it had only collected data from about 30 million Facebook profiles, it ‘may have collected the personal information of as many as 87 million Facebook users, according to the law office of Keller Rohrback.
Eligible users are those who had a Facebook account from May 24, 2007 through December 22, 2022
‘Facebook has allegedly known about Cambridge Analytica’s improper data collection since 2015 and failed to take action to stop the activity or notify users until March 2018,’ the law office shared on its website.
The suit consolidates several filed against the company and claims that ‘Facebook failed to properly protect users’ content and information from misuse or unauthorized access.
This allowed third-party apps to ‘bundle and sell access to Facebook users’ private information, including to the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica, without users’ knowledge or consent,’ the lawsuit claims.
Meta was approved for the $725 million settlement last month by a California federal judge.
The lawsuit was filed in 2019 by plaintiffs who claimed Facebook did not just share basic data, like gender and age, but also their photographs, videos they made, videos they watched and words from their direct personal messages.
In August 2022, a settlement was reached and brought to the court, followed by months of negotiations until December 22, when plaintiffs filed a motion seeking preliminary approval of the settlement.
‘This historic settlement will provide meaningful relief to the class in this complex and novel privacy case,’ said Derek Loeser and Lesley Weaver of Keller Rohrback LLP, the law firm representing the plaintiffs, in a statement.
The lawsuit, in which Meta admitted no wrongdoing, claims the social media platform made user data and data about users’ friends without permission available to third parties
The Court held a hearing on preliminary approval of the Settlement on March 2, 2023 and granted Preliminary Approval of the Settlement on March 29, 2023.
Users who think they are entitled to a portion of the settlement can fill out a form with their name, address, and email.
The form asks if you lived in the US during a specific time and were a Facebook user.
You will also be asked to provide your Facebook user names and phone number linked to your account.
Meta released a statement in December after the lawsuit settlement was announced.
‘Over the last three years we revamped our approach to privacy and implemented a comprehensive privacy program,’ Meta said in a statement, adding that the settlement ‘was in the best interest of our community and shareholders.’
In 2022, leaked documents revealed that brass at flailing Facebook failed to keep track of its nearly three billion users’ data, as the Mark Zuckerberg-led company continues to face scrutiny from privacy regulators.
In an internal document obtained by Motherboard, privacy engineers for the site pointed out flaws in its data management system, admitting they were at a loss as to where its users’ data goes.
The leak was revealed after the company that changed its corporate name to Meta came under fire for collecting unwitting users’ personal information for purposes including targeted advertising – a currently automated practice, workers who wrote the directive pointed out.
