Facebook privacy settlement payouts overview:
- Who: More than 17.7 million people submitted valid claims in the Facebook data privacy settlement.
- Why: The $725 million settlement puts an end to claims that Meta — formerly known as Facebook — shared about 87 million Facebook users’ information with a third-party app developer, who in turn sold the data to Cambridge Analytica.
- Where: Nationwide.
In an eventful final approval hearing, a California judge said he was “blown away” by the 17.7 million claims filed in a $725 million Facebook privacy class action lawsuit settlement.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs told U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria that more than 17.7 million valid claims have been filed in the Facebook data privacy settlement — with several million more still needing to be processed.
According to plaintiff lawyers, each claimant can expect to receive around $30, based on the number of claims that have been filed. Judge Chhabria noted this amount is lower than expected but can be attributed to the unprecedented number of claims filed in the case.
“It’s because such an incredibly large number of people made claims in this case,” the judge said. “I was kind of blown away by how many people made claims.”
Facebook users had until Aug. 25, 2023, to file a claim in the Facebook class action lawsuit settlement; more than 28.6 million claims were filed. However, around 2 million of these claims are duplicates, while 8 million may be fraudulent. Even after these deductions, 17.7 million filed claims is a significant number.
Although the $725 million Facebook deal has attracted widespread media attention and millions of claims, not everyone is satisfied with the settlement. Objectors in the case claim the settlement total is too small based on the number of affected users and that the criteria for payouts laid out in the settlement agreement are unfair.
These objectors were each given two minutes to argue their cases to Judge Chhabria during the final approval hearing. Plaintiffs’ lawyers hit back against their arguments, saying the objectors ignore the significant risk of litigation when calculating the potential statutory reward of going to trial.
Class lawyers in the Facebook class action lawsuit need to tell Judge Chhabria the total they will seek in attorneys’ fees from the settlement — a sum that was left out in their motion for attorneys’ fees.
“We’re just not good at math,” one lawyer joked, calling the issue an “oversight” but stating that a 25% cut of the settlement would amount to almost $180.5 million.
The $725 million settlement puts an end to claims that Meta — formerly known as Facebook — shared the information of around 87 million Facebook users with a third-party app developer who then sold their information to Cambridge Analytica. Cambridge Analytica is a UK-based political consulting firm known for its role in former President Donald Trump’s 2016 election campaign. The firm filed for bankruptcy shortly after the Facebook data-sharing scandal was revealed.
Did you submit a claim in the Facebook privacy settlement? Let us know in the comments below.
The settlement class is represented by Lesley E. Weaver, Anne K. Davis, Matthew S. Melamed and Joshua D. Samra of Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP, and Derek W. Loeser, Cari Campen Laufenberg, David Ko, Adele A. Daniel, Benjamin Gould, Emma M. Wright, Daniel Mensher, Michael Woerner, Matthew Gerend, Christopher Springer and Eric Fierro of Keller Rohrback LLP.
The Facebook privacy class action lawsuit is In re: Facebook Inc. Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation, Case No. 3:18-md-02843, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
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454 thoughts onHere’s how much the Facebook privacy class action settlement payouts could be
I had my entire Facebook taken over and I complained several of times and Facebook told me that nothing fraudulent was going on and dismissed my complaint. I had photo of my son who passed away in 2013 on there that I can never get back. 😭😡 also other family members pic who passed away. They just let them take it from me!
My Facebook was hacked several times, they didn’t do anything about it. I posted a meme that had been posted in the past not only by me but friends and they completely deleted my account. I lost 20 years of memories, contacts, and access to my deceased father’s acct. I tired to appeal several times but there was no response from FB. It was talking to a brick wall
I started a new acct but rarely use it at this point.
Nothing here
Add Me
I was using fb and messenger not on a everyday bases for years. People that are addicted to it was telling me various things about being hacked etc. so I really cut down on using it.
I, too, submitted a claim and never heard back from anyone. How do I know if my claim was received or accepted?
Submitted a claim but havent heard anything
I filed a claim but $30 is really sad for what Facebook users have went through
I did 30.00 is nothing
I had my fb account taken over by someone located in Africa. It was MY fb, my name, her location with her pic also pics of her friends etc. Had to go through many hrs of proving my own identity in order for both fb and google to delete the account. I have finally closed the acct and now requesting copies of my credit reports. Please add me
Same here