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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452 thoughts onHere’s how much the Facebook privacy class action settlement payouts could be
Someone needs to learn how to use a calculator. 725,000,000.00 minus 181,250,000.00 for lawyers fees is $543,750,000.00. Divide that by 17.7 and you get $714,759,887.00. Not $30. You get $30 when you do the math by eliminating all the friggin zeros.
If you divide it by 17.7 then yeah, but more than 17 people filed a claim. If you divide it by 17.7mil it comes out to about $31 per person
Where is the rest of the money going a 30$ pay out will be having this takin back to court no way will this be happening we have our information pictures of our family’s a million different personal things on fb 30$ is going to replace what is now floating around anywhere
The math aint mathing. Even if the lawyers take 180 million of the 750 million. Then they said 17.7 million claims to the remaining funds. Also the original 18 get $180,000 each. So lets add it up. That leaves everyone alot more than 30 bucks. Wheres the other millions going? Theres more than enough left for every one of the 17.7 million persons to have over a couple million each
You did the same thing I did. You forgot to write the 17.7 as 18,000,000. Then it comes out closer to $30. It’s still pathetic
Wtf are you talking about?? Why do people keep saying this and since when did basic math become such a difficult thing for people?? For the love of God, stop dividing the 500 and whatever million dollars by just 17.7 and use your brain and divide it by 17.7 MILLION. 17.7 million x 30 is 531 million….OH AND THE LAWSUIT IS FOR 725 MILLION NOT 750 MILLION. There’s so much wrong with your comment…. you’re literally on a completely different planet.
I filed a claim when the lawsuit first came out and I haven’t heard anything from anyone about the lawsuit at all
I don’t know why people are up set. I think the 30$ is a big amout. I was told that the more people who are in the lawsuit you get less money. If you are a lawyer you get like 25% off the award. I need that money. I like getting a check over 5$ because the check cashing store charges to cash it. At least I will get some chicken and orange soda! Maybe to times!
I filed a claim. I had my information compromised and get hacker phone calls everyday. They have got into my bank account. $30. What a joke. We get hacked they get paid. Sad
I submitted a claim and had my page since Jan 2007. It shouldn’t matter how many claims. Our info was still compromised. So while lawyers makes sure they get their fee they should be making sure all who was affected get covered as well. $30 is an insult when our info was being shared and could possibly do damage down the line.
No, I didn’t file a claim. I didn’t know about the settlement.
This is crazy and I haven’t even received any information back from them letting me know what’s going on either
I filed a claim before the deadline
still have not heard anything at all!
I submitted a claim as well.
I submitted a valid claim as well. On grounds of Forgery/Fraud-Deceptive Trade Practices using Apple gift cards. For services never rendered.
I have submitted my Facebook claim as well.
I think I’ve filed for this class action ..if not please add me to claim .been using Facebook over 10yrs ..thankyou