Facebook will have to pay $90 million in a class action settlement. Even though the social media giant never admitted wrongdoing, Mark Zuckerberg’s social media platform, owned by Meta, agreed to settle. The plaintiffs and Facebook reached an agreement to avoid additional costs and risks associated with going on a trial. Even though Meta has been through some rough times over the last year, it is still one of the most valuable companies in the world.
Facebook was accused of tracking its users even if they had logged off from the app. Any person who used Facebook between April 22, 2010, and September 26, 2011, is likely eligible for a cut out of the class action money. The user must have also visited non-Facebook websites that displayed the Facebook ‘like’ button. Lastly, the class action lawsuit is only open to people who resided in the USA at the time. So, if you fit the profile, you might be able to get a chunk of the lawsuit against the social media giant.
Submitting a claim is relatively easy, and it only takes a few minutes, but you only have until September 22, 2022, to do so if you want to be included. You can submit an online claim or a printed one.
All you have to do is fill out a form, and provide details such as your physical and email addresses, full name, and phone number. You will also be asked for your current Facebook username and the username you might have had back in 2010. You also get to pick how you want to get paid if your claim is accepted – the offered options are Zelle, PayPal, or Venmo. Claimants can also provide direct deposit information or request to receive a Mastercard gift card. After the online form is submitted, you will get a claim confirmation email with all the submitted info, including a claim ID and a confirmation code.
It is currently unclear how much money the claimants will take. A good chunk of the $90 million will go to attorney fees and court expenses. However, the rest would likely be divided by the number of claimants.
Class action lawsuits against Meta are not uncommon. For example, just last month, Meta was ordered to pay a civil penalty of $115,054 to the United States after the Department of Justice (DOJ) resolved allegations of discriminatory advertising techniques that the DOJ called “groundbreaking.”