What You Need to Know About the Facebook Data Privacy Class Action Settlement [UPDATE]

If you were a Facebook user between April 22, 2010 and September 26, 2011, you may be entitled to money from a recent $90 million class action settlement.

The proposed deal, which still awaits a judge’s preliminary approval, looks to end litigation that initially began back in 2012 when a group of lawsuits accused Facebook of unlawfully collecting data about the websites users visited while they were logged out of the social media platform.

Read on to find out who is covered and how to file your claim when the time comes.

Who does the Facebook settlement look to cover?

The settlement aims to cover anyone who was a Facebook user in the U.S. between April 22, 2010 and September 26, 2011 and visited a non-Facebook website that displayed a Facebook “like” button.

What benefits does the settlement provide?

Each person who files a valid claim will receive an equal share of the $90 million settlement fund, and the amount each person receives will depend on how many people file claims.

The settlement will also require Facebook to delete the information that the plaintiffs claimed was unlawfully collected via the use of cookies that identified and tracked Facebook users on third-party websites.

How do I file a claim?

You won’t be able to file a claim until after the settlement receives the judge’s preliminary approval. Once approval is granted, an official settlement website will be set up where you’ll be able to file a claim online or download a claim form to be submitted via U.S. mail.

We’ll update this page with the settlement website once it’s live.

What happens next?

The process can’t move forward until the judge overseeing the litigation approves the proposed settlement.

Once that happens, most people covered by the settlement should receive a class notice at the email address Facebook has on file for them, and information about the deal will also be posted in internet ads and on social media platforms.

It will then be time to file a claim for your share of the settlement. You’ll be able to select how you’d like to receive your payment, such as through ACH, PayPal, Zelle, Venmo, a prepaid Mastercard or check.

Sometime after that, the parties will present the settlement to the judge for final approval. Those who submitted valid claims won’t receive their payments until after the deal gets final approval and any appeals are resolved.

The lawsuits that led to the settlement

The litigation that this settlement aims to resolve began over a decade ago when Facebook users accused the social media giant of collecting data about their internet use while they were not logged into Facebook. A group of these cases was consolidated into multidistrict litigation (MDL) in February 2012. This settlement aims to resolve the MDL and a parallel lawsuit in California state court.

Though a U.S. district judge initially dismissed the litigation, an appeals court partially reversed the decision, finding that Facebook was not exempt from liability under the Wiretap Act and that the plaintiffs had sufficiently alleged that they’d suffered economic harm.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case despite Facebook’s assertion that online companies should not be exposed to liability for “routine business activity,” and the litigation was sent back to California’s Northern District Court, where the parties began working toward a settlement.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys estimate that the $90 million settlement fund, which they describe as “one of the ten largest data privacy class action settlements ever,” represents more than the total amount Facebook gained in additional profits from allegedly collecting user data during the time period covered by the litigation.

David Straite, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, told Law360 that the settlement “not only repairs harm done to Facebook users but sets a precedent for the future disposition of such matters.”

Stay tuned for updates to this page as the settlement moves forward. 

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