Users of Facebook in the US can seek to get a portion of the $ 725 million privacy settlement that the parent company of the social media network, Meta, agreed to pay last year. The reward is for any US citizen who had a Facebook account between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022. According to the AP, the settlement sum can be claimed by filing a form online by August 25 at the latest.
The world’s largest social networking platform, Meta, is paying to resolve claims that it sold millions of its users’ personal information. The information and data were given to Cambridge Analytica, a company that helped Donald Trump win the 2016 presidential election. The parent company of Facebook has agreed to provide the impacted individuals with $75 million in late 2022.
The Exact Amount
The amount of money that each user will get is unclear. Since the funds must be distributed among them, each payout will be lesser the more persons who file legitimate claims.
Facebook still has more than 2 billion members globally, including an estimated 250 million in the US. Despite the fact that its growth has slowed as more people interact and amuse themselves on competing sites like TikTok.
How To Claim?
There is a website that takes you to the settlement form, or users can claim by mail-
- Name
- Address
- Date of Birth
- Facebook Handle
- Contact Details
- Payment Information (PayPal, Zelle, Venmo, Mastercard)
Meta’s Consequences
Over the years, Facebook has been charged with gathering personal data and using it in ways that users weren’t aware of or had not authorized. In several claims, it was alleged that the network failed to keep an eye on how personal information was used after sharing. The deal made personal data available to app developers, business partners, marketers, and data brokers without their consent.
“Meta is keen to present privacy issues such as those raised by the Cambridge Analytica controversy as historical – obviously it remains to be seen whether that’s the case – as if there are more settlements in the future, that could start to have a more serious impact on the company.” Technology Author James Ball said.
The most prominent of these third parties was a personality quiz app that secretly acquired data from 71 million Facebook friends, including roughly 270,000 Americans. In addition to the app’s 270,000 users, there are other members linked to the app whose data is also stored.
Beyond the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Meta has long faced criticism over data protection. For instance, the EU fined Meta a record $1.3 billion in May. Further mandating them to stop sending customers’ private information across the Atlantic by the end of October. Additionally, because of privacy concerns, the new text-based software Threads from the internet giant has not been released in the EU.
