There's just one month left to claim your share of Meta's $725 million settlement, here's...

[midian182]

Recap: If you were a Facebook user between May 24, 2007, and Dec 22, 2022, the social media giant probably owes you money from a $725 million settlement – and you've only got one month left to claim it. Don't expect to see a huge amount of cash, but something for nothing is always good.

The settlement originates from Meta's most controversial incident in its history (so far): Cambridge Analytica. The now-defunct British political consulting firm harvested the personal data of almost 90 million users without their consent for targeted political ads during the 2016 US presidential campaign and the UK's Brexit referendum. That was four years ago, but it was only last December when Meta agreed to pay $725 million to settle a long-running class-action lawsuit over sharing users' personal data with third parties.

If you did have a Facebook account and lived in the US between May 24, 2007, and Dec 22, 2022, you have until 11:59 pm PT on August 25 to grab your share of the payout. You can claim by filing a form at Facebookuserprivacysettlement.com, which asks for your name, address, email address, and some date confirmations.

Meta's payment options

You probably shouldn't start planning on buying a yacht just yet, though. While it's unclear how much each person will receive as individual amounts depend on how many claim, the $725 million figure includes legal and administrative fees. The longer you were a user during the specific period, the more you'll get, but with over 200 million US Facebook users, it's hard to imagine that it'll be a lot of money. Still, free is free.

Applicants can also request applications by phone, or print them off and mail them to the settlement administrator. You can choose to receive your share via prepaid Mastercard, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, a direct deposit, or a paper check.

Cambridge Analytica proved to be Facebook/Meta's most costly privacy violation. In addition to the $725 million settlement, the company was forced to pay the FTC a $5 billion fine and $100 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company admits no wrongdoing, naturally.

In other recent Meta news, the company just had its best quarter since 2021, despite its Reality Labs division, responsible for the metaverse, losing $13.7 billion, taking its total losses since 2020 to over $40 billion.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/99595-there-one-month-left-claim-share-meta-725.html

 

[Cycloid Torus]

Where is the 'contribute to charity' option?

 

[Gixser]

"....but something for nothing is always good."

What the actual F???? Its NOT something for nothing unless you don't value anything about privacy rights, informed consent and the rule of law!

 

[p51d007]

OH BOY! Can't wait to get a prepaid card in the mail for $5.27 of the
725 million dollar settlement!
I'm sure the 724 million the law firm(s), politician(s) get will be enough to
get them through the next year.

 

[paul1122]

Where is the 'contribute to charity' option?

It doesn't exist because the cost to administer it would be more than the amount received. You have to make it worth their while to make it a beautiful thing.

 

[Neatfeatguy]

2022 - approx 240mil users from the US are on facebook.

Best I can find is that lawyers end up with 25-33%, which means the rest divvies out to the lawsuit and people in it. So, worst case there will be $478.5mil to divide amongst those people that "something for nothing is always good".

If every single person - 240mil - opted into the lawsuit, then they'd be looking at $1.99 each. That's just F'ing amazing! Barely enough to buy a candy bar, depending on where you live it might not be enough to even buy a candy bar.

Maybe only 100mil opted in. Now you're looking at $4.78 a person. Maybe only 50mil opted in, now you're looking at $9.57 a person.

Of course it could be more or less, depending on how long you've been with Facebook. My guess is, the average person will see around $10.

In the end, the only thing that I know for certain is that Facebook/Meta has made billions, if not trillions, off of all those people's data between 2007 and 2020 and they only get slapped with $725 million fine....HAHAHAHA! This kind of fine only goes to reinforce corporations nastiness of using things that isn't theirs to profit from immensely because the fine/punishment they'll receive is nothing more than an annoying hangnail. They'll just pluck it off and go about their day like it never happened and they'll simply repeat the same abusive behaviour over and over again because it's so profitable and because the public is so F'ing stupid.

However, you put out these class action lawshits and give the public a small reward for nothing and most of them won't think again about it and feel like they've won a battle against big old bad giant corporation.

 

[RandomWAN]

As always, class action lawsuits only make the lawyers money. The aggrieved parties never make anything worth noting.

 

[Hotlynx16]

I don't know if I want them to know my name, address, email address and other things after they already violated my privacy!

 

[Q Wales]

How come the UK don't get to claim too?