Facebook users can now apply to receive payment from US$725 million privacy settlement.

Facebook's old logo.
Facebook was founded by Mark Zuckerberg on February 4, 2004, when he was a sophomore at Harvard University.

 If you are a Facebook user in the U.S. and have used the social media platform since 2007 (16 years ago), you could be eligible to receive your share of the $725 million payout that Facebook/Meta is now obligated to pay for privacy breaches after a class-action lawsuit was brought in California against the tech giant. 

It all started in 2018, when news broke that data-mining company Cambridge Analytica had obtained the data of over 87 million Facebook users in the US via a personality quiz app. It is believed that Cambridge Analytica was integral to Donald J. Trump's 2016 election campaign. Several cases were filed against the company in the U.S. District Court in California's Northern District, and addressed concerns pertaining to the company's data privacy practices. 

Facebook's now famous thumbs up sign is one of the more iconic images
that is synonymous with the social media brand.

Plaintiffs alleged that Facebook authorized third party access of users' content and personal information without their consent and failed to monitor how that information was used. Meta/Facebook denied they breached users' privacy but agreed to pay the settlement in December 2022 to avoid the costs and risk of a prolonged case. 

The agreement was given a preliminary nod by the federal judge at the end of March (2023) but final approval should be given by September of this year (2023).

Facebook changed its name to Meta in October 2021.

It is however not clear how much individual claimants will receive, as the larger the number of people submitting valid claims, the smaller each payout will become, since the money must be divided among them. Additionally, the final sum to payout to claimants could also be determined by legal and administrative fees. Individual sums may also be impacted by how long a claimant used Facebook during the period in question (since 2007; 16 years).

Claims can be filed online via the settlement website or by mail. The deadline is August 25, and the deadline to opt out or refuse the payout is July 26.