Canadians now receiving settlement money from $20M Yahoo! class action
Some Canadians are starting to receive money from a Yahoo! settlement, so make sure to check your bank account.
In 2024, the Ontario Superior Court approved a settlement of a nationwide class-action lawsuit against Yahoo! Inc. and Yahoo! Canada Co.
The lawsuit was filed after the online platform faced several data breaches between 2013 and 2016.
The first data breach occurred in 2013, and the company issued a notice on Dec. 14, 2016. The second breach took place in 2014, with a notice issued on Sept. 22, 2016. In February 2017, Yahoo issued a notice about the third breach that occurred in 2015 and 2016.
The class-action lawsuit alleged that the company failed to protect account holders’ personal information and that the data breaches were due to “inadequate data security measures in place.”
“The defendants Yahoo Inc. and Yahoo! Canada Co. deny that they have violated any laws and deny that they have engaged in any wrongdoing,” read the notice.
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Two years after the settlement was approved, some Canadians have reported seeing the payout in their bank accounts.
“Yesterday I got an e-transfer from Yahoo! for the class action settlement. Just want everyone to know it is coming if you have qualified,” reads one Reddit post on Wednesday.
Another Redditor reported receiving $405.51 from the class action on Tuesday. Several people commented saying they received payments ranging from $280 to $405.
According to the class action’s claims site, payments will be either e-transferred by the claims administrator to the email address provided or deposited by direct deposit to the bank account information provided on the claim form.
Those who were eligible to cash in on the settlement had to be Canadian residents with Yahoo! accounts between Jan. 1, 2012, and Dec. 31, 2016.
There were two kinds of claims. Category A included users who incurred expenses within four months of receiving any of the data breach notices and can submit a claim for cash reimbursement.
Some Canadians may also get paid $25 an hour for a maximum of five hours spent “mitigating the impact of the three data breaches (up to a combined total of 15 hours).”
As a result, if you were affected by all of the data breaches, you could receive a maximum of $375.
Finally, if you paid for the premium ad-free email services or Aabaco Small Business services between Aug. 1, 2013, and Dec. 31, 2016, you could be paid out 25 per cent of the costs of those services.
Under category B, Canadians could have claimed up to five hours of “wasted time and inconvenience” responding to each of the three data breaches. You could receive a total of $375, which is $125 for each data breach.
Canadians who think they’re eligible but haven’t submitted a claim are unfortunately too late. The deadline to submit a claim was Dec. 27, 2024.
Daily Hive has reached out to RicePoint Administration Inc. for information on a timeline for the rollout of payments. We will update the story when we receive a reply.
With files from Irish Mae Silvestre