Millions of users of Meta Platforms‘ (NASDAQ:META) Facebook in the U.S. are set to receive their long-awaited compensation for a data privacy breach that occurred over a decade.
The distribution of the settlement payments, which will be handled by Angeion, the company overseeing the settlement, will commence in August 2025 and continue for 10 weeks, reported The Hill.
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The settlement came after Meta, Facebook’s parent company, agreed to pay $725 million to resolve allegations that it allowed users’ personal data to be shared with third parties, including the controversial consulting firm Cambridge Analytica.
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Anyone in the U.S. who had a Facebook account between 2007 and 2022 qualified for a share of the settlement. Angeion, the settlement administrator, reviewed around 28 million claims to confirm their legitimacy, ultimately approving at least 17 million of them.
If you submitted a claim by the August 2023 deadline and it was approved, your payment will be sent via the method you chose when filing—either as a direct bank deposit, a mailed prepaid gift card, or a PayPal transfer.
Although the number of claimants was substantial, the individual payouts are expected to be relatively modest. The exact amount will depend on the duration of the user’s active Facebook account, with lawyers estimating a median payment of around $30.
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This lawsuit and the subsequent settlement are part of a larger narrative surrounding Meta’s handling of user data. Cambridge Analytica illegally harvested Facebook user data to influence political ads, notably in the 2016 U.S. election and Brexit vote. The scandal sparked intense scrutiny of Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, prompting significant regulatory reforms and raising global concerns over tech companies’ handling of personal data and privacy protections.
In July 2025, a trial began in Delaware where Meta shareholders sought $8 billion in damages from top executives, including Mark Zuckerberg and Peter Thiel, over alleged failures to protect user data following the scandal.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, also announced a ban on political, electoral, and social issue advertising in the European Union in response to new regulations aimed at enhancing transparency in online advertising following the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal.
date: 2025-08-16 00:59:00