Back in 2016, Cambridge Analytica, a British political consulting firm supporting Donald Trump‘s presidential campaign, paid a Facebook app developer for access to info of around 87 million people. That developer told Facebook they wanted the info for research purposes, but the info was actually used to target U.S. voters and was (obviously) instrumental to the Trump campaign’s victory. Once the revelations came to light, a class action lawsuit was filed, and Facebook eventually agreed to pay out $725 million to the people involved. So when is that settlement money coming?
The road to the payout started in 2018, when a Maryland Facebook user filed a proposed class action lawsuit for herself and other users like her. That case was combined with seven other similar lawsuits into one huge one, and after litigating for seven years, Facebook finally agreed to the payout. It was approved on Dec. 23, 2022. However, resolution wasn’t that easy; a number of plaintiffs filed legal objections over attorney fees, saying they were too high (attorneys wanted around $181 million), and that the payout for the plaintiffs was too low.
The attorneys shot back with a court filing that said the people complaining were only a “tiny percentage” of the millions of Facebook users in the lawsuit. The payouts were finalized on October 10. Facebook had 90 days to appeal, and that ended on January 8, 2024. This led many to believe payouts would start that month, but unfortunately that’s not the case.
The latest updates on the case are available on a portal set up by Angeion, a company administering the settlement fund. The latest update explains “two objectors have filed notices of appeals” and that “settlement payments cannot be distributed to eligible claimants until the appeals are resolved.” Where does this leave us? Angeion says:
“The time frame for resolving an appeal can vary widely, and we will know more as the appeals proceed. Updates on status will be provided here as more information becomes available. We thank you in advance for your patience.”
What this means is that right now, there is no firm date on when payouts can be expected; it all depends on how long it takes the appeals to work their way through the system. If you are familiar with the court system at all, you know that it can move at a glacial pace, and that deadlines are more hopeful promises than factual occurrences.
Since the filing deadline, around 28 million people applied for the settlement. Of those, about 500,000 were rejected. Many have already received emails about their rejections, and those rejected have up to 10 days to appeal. It’s a good idea to check the status of your claim in the portal – it’s a huge settlement, and there are bound to be errors in the process.
The eligibility window is from between May 24, 2007 and December 22, 2022. While those people were automatically qualified for compensation, that wouldn’t happen unless they filled out a claim. Details requested in the claim include your name, your address, your phone number, your Facebook email, questions about residency, whether it was necessary for you to use Facebook during the alleged time period, your time frame of use, and your preferred payment method.
How much money will I get from the Facebook Settlement?
Of the 28 million claims filed since the deadline, about 17 million have been verified so far. While the $275 million seems like it’s a lot of money, after you subtract court fees and attorneys fees, and then split that up between millions of people, it’s not. Lawyers for Facebook told the judge that the median payment is going to be around $30. However, some people will get more, and some people will get less.
Payment will be distributed in whatever way the claimant specified on their claims application. The available payment methods are Venmo, prepaid Mastercard, Zelle, or PayPal. Some people will be mailed checks. The most money will go to people who maintained a Facebook account for the longest duration during the qualifying period.
This means you’re still eligible for payment even if your account was closed or erased, but you won’t get the maximum amount in that case.