Final chance for Canadians to get money from US$725M Facebook settlement
Some Canadian Facebook users could get cash from a massive class-action lawsuit against parent-company Meta.
Several Facebook users sued Meta for allegedly sharing user data and data about users’ friends without permission.
According to the lawsuit, they claimed that the tech giant did not “sufficiently monitor and enforce third-party access or use of that data” on Facebook.
“Meta expressly denies any liability or wrongdoing,” it reads.
While the court did not decide in favour of any party, the class-action plaintiffs and Meta (the defendant) agreed to a settlement to avoid the costs and risks of a trial.
If the court approves the settlement, Meta will establish a fund of a whopping US$725 million (C$982 million) to pay all valid claims submitted by those eligible for the payment. This includes notice and administration expenses and attorneys’ fees and costs.
The deadline to claim a piece of this gigantic settlement is at 11:59 pm on Friday, August 25, so here’s what you should know.
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Are you eligible to claim this Facebook privacy settlement?
Canadians could file a claim for this settlement if they were a Facebook user in the US between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022.
“Each Settlement Class Member may only file one claim,” reads the class action.
The settlement website does not specify a minimum period spent living in the US to qualify as a claimant. Instead, it asks if you “resided” in the United States at any time during the class period and were a Facebook user.
The documents also don’t explicitly say “for US residents only” anywhere. However, once you start filling out a claim form, you are met with the question, “Did you reside in the United States at any time between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022, inclusive?”
If you answer “no” using the drop-down menu, the following notice pops up, saying you are not eligible to submit a claim.
Daily Hive has reached out to Meta for further clarity and will update this story when it responds.
Did you delete the Facebook account you used in the US? Not to worry.
According to the lawsuit, if you created but deleted one or more Facebook accounts and then made a new profile, the claim form lets you include the entire span for which you had an active Facebook account during the class period.
“In the Claim Form, in response to the question, ‘Are you filing a claim for a current account, a deleted account, or a combination of both?’ select the pulldown option that specifies ‘Both Current and Deleted Accounts,'” it reads.
You’ll then be asked to fill in information for both your current and deleted accounts. If you had multiple accounts simultaneously, they wouldn’t be double counted, says the suit.
How much money will you get?
Your payment will depend on how many people submit valid claims and how long you were a user on Facebook during the class period.
In addition, the total amount distributed will be the settlement fund minus the administrative costs, attorney costs, and service awards. After these are paid off, you’re left with the net settlement fund, which goes to eligible Canadians.
“The Settlement Administrator will assign each Authorized Claimant one point for each month in which the Authorized Claimant had an activated Facebook account during the Class Period,” states the class action.
After the claim submission deadline, the administrator will add all the points assigned to eligible claimants and divide the net settlement amount by that number.
“The result will be the amount of the Net Settlement Fund available for each point,” reads the suit. “Each Authorized Claimant will receive that per-point amount multiplied by the number of points they were assigned.”
How do you submit a claim?
You can submit a claim form online here or print one and mail it to the settlement administrator at this address:
Facebook Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation, c/o Settlement Administrator, 1650 Arch Street, Suite 2210, Philadelphia, PA 19103.
You can also contact the settlement administrator to request a claim form over the phone at 1-855-556-2233 or by email here.
The final approval hearing for the settlement is September 7 at 1 pm PST.
This isn’t the only class-action lawsuit Canadians could benefit from.
A new one against the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) could give extra cash to some Canadians.
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