There’s still time for you to get your claim in for Meta’s class action settlement regarding Facebook’s internet tracking litigation if you qualify. U.S. Facebook users with active accounts between April 2010 and September 2011 who visited third-party websites which displayed the Facebook “like†button are entitled to financial compensation.
This four year $90 million lawsuit has finally reached a conclusion after court filings showed that third parties were given access to Facebook users’ personal data without their consent.
Facebook’s vast empire built on personal data has driven a number of lawsuits, and earlier this month the social media platform’s parent company settled yet another for an undisclosed amount.
The lawsuit was brought by Facebook users among over 300,000 people who downloaded a quiz app called “This Is Your Digital Life†created by Cambridge Analytica. Plaintiffs alleged that the app harvested users’ data that included data describing users’ Facebook Friends, potentially accessing the personal information of 80 million-plus users.
The infamous political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica had ties to Trump’s political strategist Steve Bannon and was shut down in 2018 after breaching privacy laws through data collection for the creation of targeted political advertising based on voter profiling. This personal data was used to influence the 2016 U.S. election in which Trump was elected President. This latest suit sought to depose key Facebook executives, including COO Sheryl Sandberg. Unlike direct marketing tools for data appending information such as email and phone numbers from opt-in sources, Facebook’s complex linkages of friends and preferences data allows creation of targeting profiles that researchers have said know you better than a spouse or partner.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Sandberg denied any wrongdoing on the record, stating Facebook never broke any laws and their privacy practices are consistent with the disclosures agreed upon when users sign up for their accounts.
For the terms of the settlement in the “like†button case or to file a claim, visit www.FBinternettrackingsettlement.com. You can also choose the mail-in option and submit by September 22, 2022.