US users have until August 25th to submit a claim.

Following years of litigation over the Cambridge Analytica scandal, a federal judge recently gave initial approval to a $725 million settlement between Meta and Facebook users alleging the company shared their personal data without proper consent. If you used Facebook between May 2007 and December 2022 and lived in the US during that time, you’re eligible to get cash from the settlement. While it will be a few more months before that money starts making its way to people, you don’t need to wait to submit a claim.

You can start the process by visiting the settlement website and clicking or tapping the “Submit Claim” button at the top of the page. There’s a full set of instructions on the page, but the short version of what you need to do is provide your contact information and the email, phone number or username associated with your Facebook account. If you have more than one account, file for the one you’ve had the longest.

You also need to complete an eligibility check, which involves stating whether you lived in the US between May 24th, 2007 and December 22nd, 2022, and if you were a Facebook user over that same time period. Lastly, you need to sign the form and indicate how you would like to be paid. Venmo and PayPal are options if you don’t want to share your bank information.

The deadline to submit an online claim is August 25th, 2023 at 11:59PM PT. You can also submit a claim by mail, provided it’s postmarked by August 25th, 2023. After completing the form, make sure all the information is accurate. Note that you can only submit one claim.

If you have questions about the process, you can contact the settlement administration by emailing [email protected] or calling 1-855-566-2233. One last thing, the claim form recommends adding “[email protected]” to your contact list to ensure any important correspondence doesn’t end up in your spam folder.

How much you can expect to receive from the settlement will depend on how many people submit valid claims, and how long you were a Facebook user during the eligibility period. If every person who can apply does, you’re looking at a payout of at most a few dollars. The final approval hearing is scheduled for September 7th. Payments should be mailed out after the court grants final approval and any appeals are sorted out.

Source:
courtesy of ENGADGET

by Igor Bonifacic

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