ICYMI: Facebook settled a huge lawsuit recently, over their user’s data and privacy issues, and you may be eligible for a cash settlement. Read below for all the details, including what happens if you do nothing at all.
What is a Class Action Lawsuit and What is a Settlement?
A Class Action Lawsuit happens when one or more individuals brings a lawsuit against a company, on the behalf of all of the customers. After the judgement or settlement, the amount of proceeds (if any) are to be split among all of the customers who were affected (after attorney’s fees). Many times the customers must sign-up for their eligible proceeds by filing a “claim” by a certain deadline.
What happened at Facebook?
Facebook settled a lawsuit of $725M based on violations to their user’s privacy and data sharing issues. The lawsuit accuses Facebook of harvesting the data of 87M users without authorization. By “settling” they can pay a fine and avoid the risk of being found guilty of any wrongdoing at a trial.
Who is Eligible for Compensation from the Settlement and How Much Can they Get?
Facebook users in the USA who had an account between 5/24/07-12/22/22. Those with accounts for a longer period of time, or who deleted their accounts during those dates, may get a higher settlement than those who had accounts for less time or never deleted an account. The proceeds will be split amongst all of those who file for a claim, so payout amounts are unclear at this time.
The way the proceeds will be divided up is based on the user’s length of Facebook activity as well as if they deleted an account or not. Each user who files a claim will get one point for each month they had an “active” Facebook account between the relevant dates. Those with more points, will get a larger share of the settlement.
What Do I need to Do in Order to Submit a Claim?
You will need to provide the following information here.
–Name
–Address
–Phone
–If you lived in the USA during the dates of 5/24/2007-12/22/22
–If you were a Facebook user between same dates
–If you deleted a Facebook account during that time, and the date range of the account that was deleted
–Your Facebook user name
–Your preferred method of payment for settlement amount
Deadline to file the claim is 8/25/23.
What if I Do Nothing?
If you do not participate in this settlement in any way (either by making a claim for settlement funds or by opting out of the settlement), you give up your right to ever be able to file a lawsuit against Facebook. If you do not want to give up the right to ever sue Facebook, but don’t care about the cash compensation, you can opt-out of this settlement entirely, using the link above.
What’s Next?
Once you file the claim, the final settlement hearing date is set for 9/7/23. This is when the settlement amounts will be determined, but when they will be paid out is not known. Note: at this time, settlement amounts are predicted to be less than $5 each if every eligible user participates. However, final payout amounts will be based on how many actually end up making a claim, and for how much they are eligible.
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