Payments for Facebook’s $725 million privacy settlement are starting. Here’s what to know.

If you submitted a claim as part of the $725 million privacy settlement with Facebook, you may be receiving a payment in the coming weeks, as confirmed by the settlement’s administrator. The settlement arose from a series of lawsuits against Facebook, where users alleged that the company improperly shared their information with third parties like advertisers and data brokers over a 15-year period.

The legal action against Facebook was triggered by the infamous privacy scandal involving Cambridge Analytica in 2018, where user data was harvested from the platform to create voter profiles. Despite Meta, Facebook’s parent company, denying any wrongdoing or liability under the settlement, millions of users were eligible to file a claim back in 2023.

If you are entitled to a payment, you will receive an email from the “Facebook User Privacy Settlement Administrator” with the email address donotreply@facebookuserprivacysettlement.com. The subject line of the email will be “Facebook User Privacy Settlement – Settlement and Distribution Status Update,” and it will include your claim ID number.

Payments began being distributed in September and will continue for the next 10 weeks. Recipients will receive a notification email approximately 3-4 days before their payment is issued to keep them informed.

The average payment amount, as disclosed in a court filing on September 5, is around $29.43, with a maximum payout of $38.36. After deducting administrative costs and legal fees, Facebook users will receive a portion of the $725 million settlement. The amount each claimant receives is calculated based on the duration of their Facebook usage during the specified 15-year period covered by the settlement.

Claimants earn one “allocation point” for each month they had an active Facebook account between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022. The total number of points assigned to all eligible claimants is used to determine the payment amount, with those who used Facebook for the entire 15-year period potentially receiving the maximum of $38.36.

In conclusion, if you filed a claim in the Facebook privacy settlement, keep an eye on your email for updates on your payment. The process is underway, and you could receive your compensation within the next few weeks.