Some Facebook users who benefited from the $725 million class-action lawsuit settlement are now in line for a second disbursement.
This settlement was finalized in 2023 after a protracted five-year legal battle ignited by the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The now-defunct marketing firm faced allegations of unlawfully harvesting user data from Facebook and selling it to unauthorized third parties for voter targeting during the 2016 presidential election.
Meta, Facebook’s parent company with a market capitalization of $1.5 trillion, opted to settle the lawsuit to avoid a court trial. As part of the agreement, Meta did not admit to any liability or wrongdoing.
While the initial round of payments was distributed last year, around $100 million remains unclaimed in the settlement fund, as reported in court documents. Last month, a California court sanctioned the distribution of a second round of payments.
The remaining funds will be allocated to those who submitted a claim by the August 25, 2023, deadline for the first round and have already cashed their initial checks.
Eligible claimants included any U.S. resident who used Facebook from May 24, 2007, to December 22, 2022.
Anyone who was eligible and did not file a claim by the August 2023 deadline will not be privy to the second round of payouts, which will begin on Tuesday, June 9, and continue for the following four weeks.
Facebook users who will receive a second payout will be notified by email three to four days before the funds are issued.
Facebook users who claimed payments in a $725 million class-action lawsuit settlement between plaintiffs and the company may be eligible for a second round of payouts
Meta, Facebook’s parent company with a $1.5 trillion market cap, settled the case in 2022, and it was finalized a year later. The sign outside Meta’s headquarters in California is pictured
The email’s subject line will be: ‘Facebook User Privacy Settlement – Settlement and Second Distribution Status Update.’
Claimants in the first round who are unsure whether they are eligible for the second round of payments can email the settlement administrator at info@facebookuserprivacysettlement.com with their claim ID for more information.
The settlement administrator has estimated that more than 15 million people will receive a slice of the remaining money, which will be around $95 million after $5 million of administrative fees are taken into account, according to court filings.
The settlement website warns that the second-round payouts will be smaller than the first-round median sum of $32.45, ranging instead from $4.67 to $7.32.
Payments will be issued through checks, direct deposit, PayPal, Venmo, Zelle or prepaid debit cards, depending on the method selected by users when they filed the initial claim.
The amount claimants earned in the first round and will earn in the second round is based on ‘allocation points,’ which refers to the number of months a user spent on Facebook within the 15-year eligibility period.
A user who spent three years on the website between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022, would have 36 ‘allocation points,’ for example.
The class-action lawsuit that led to the nearly three-quarters of a billion dollar settlement began as separate cases that were consolidated in 2018.
The second-round payouts are expected to range from $4.67 to $7.32 and will be issued starting June 9 through the following four weeks
Plaintiffs accused Facebook of sharing user data without consent to third parties such as data brokers, advertisers and app developers.
Meta agreed to settle the lawsuit in December 2022, and it was finalized the next year. The first round of payments was issued yet another two years later in September 2025.
