Your money is finally on the move if you submitted a claim in Facebook user privacy class action. The settlement administrator has begun processing payments and approved claimants are being notified before they receive payment.
Here’s what it all entails, including: What the typical payout will be, How money is being sent, and Why some people will receive only a few dollars to handfuls of dozen or two.
What you’re likely to earn
The settlement amounts to $725 million before fees and costs. After a variety of court-approved deductions — including some $180 million in attorneys’ fees, about $4 million in administrative costs and 0001)the lead class representatives would receive approximately $120,000 — about $541 million is left to be distributed to claimants, according to filings in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Payments are calculated and issued based on “allocation points,” or the number of months you were an active Facebook user with an eligible account during that period. A point totals one month and no more than a total of 188 points would be allowed. The more points you have, the bigger your slice of the net fund.
Documents filed with the court show that the lowest approved payout is $4.89 and highest $38.36. Expect to be closer to the low end if you used Facebook for only part of the period or submitted late in the process and/or at the high end if you were active all along.
How and when payments will be coming
Approved claimants receive an email a few days before the award payment is made. Then look for a message that “Facebook User Privacy Settlement — Settlement and Distribution Status Update” from the “Facebook User Privacy Settlement Administrator” at donotreply@facebookuserprivacysettlement.com. If you receive a notice from some other sender, beware — scammers often impersonate official notices.
Money is being dispatched in waves over several weeks. You will be paid with the option you selected on your claim form — which is usually a digital method like PayPal, Venmo or prepaid card or by mailed check. If you have a different payment method altogether, update your information on the claims administrator’s official site rather than in response to any email.
Why the figures are low
Class action math is brutal: a limited pot divided among very many parties works out to relatively small amounts. In addition to the size of the class, courts have also approved reasonable legal fees and administrative costs to disseminate notices, verify claims and process payments — all part of routine procedure in complex privacy cases.
In short, the per-person checks don’t reflect your full data value; they measure a proportionate slice of what’s left over after paying costs, adjusting for how long you were in the class. That’s why two neighbors with different account histories may see very different amounts.
The points system
Each month you had a Facebook account during the period defined in the settlement counts as a point. The representative consolidates your points, adds to all participants’ points who have a payable claim on the fund and finally translates the number of your shares in the net fund. Example: if you earned an estimated half the maximum points, then your payment is likely to be roughly half of the top payout range indicated in court filings.
If you deactivated and then reactivated your account, or if over time you changed either your name or email from what you used to make your claim, the administrator looked to Facebook’s records as well as the information you provided on your claim form in order to calculate these numbers.
If you filed — and if you didn’t
If you already submitted a valid claim, there is nothing else to do but wait for the official email. You will not be asked for passwords or charged a fee. If a message requires either, it is not valid.
If you didn’t file a claim, the deadline has passed and new claims aren’t currently being accepted. You can at least scrutinize public court records and notices from the settlement administrator for a patina of transparency on how distributions are calculated.
The bigger picture
The case relates to claims that Facebook data was misused by third-party developers, including the political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. Meta has denied any wrongdoing and consented to the settlement to end the litigation. Regulators, scholars and privacy advocates have closely monitored how large platforms operate with sensitive user information, and this settlement is among the largest regarding consumer privacy to date.