Read your email carefully this week: On Monday morning, I received an email from PayPal with the enticing subject line, "Your Facebook Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation Settlement Payment." And no, it wasn't a scam. I opened it to find my PayPal account had been sent $37.55 as my share of Facebook's $725 million privacy settlement.
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I was glad I spotted the email, because the money would've sat there in PayPal until I made a PayPal purchase. Instead, I chose to transfer it to my bank, where it's expected to show up by Thursday.
That's the good news. The bad news is that if you neglected to file a claim by the 2023 deadline, you're out of luck.
This all stems from what might be the largest privacy settlement in US history: Facebook's parent company, Meta, is paying $725 million to settle claims involving the sharing of user data with third-party companies.
Back in 2018, Facebook was accused of improperly disclosing users' personal information. Cambridge Analytica, a UK political consulting firm with ties to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, ended up with the data of as many as 87 million Facebook users. Meta denied any wrongdoing, saying in a 2023 statement that it agreed to the deal because "it's in the best interest of our community and shareholders."
A representative for Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The amount you receive depends on how long you had an active Facebook account. Screenshot by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper/CNET
Payment amounts differ
The official website for the lawsuit has more information about settlement payments. It notes that settlement payments are only being sent to class members with approved claims. Distribution of the payments will continue over the next 10 weeks. If your claim is approved, a notification will be sent to your email a few days before your payment is issued.
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