Facebook settlement- I wouldn’t expect much

[Omega Man]

Remembering that in your using Facebook, you are the product being marketed, there has been a settlement. Facebook users who maintained an account between May 2007 and Dec. 2022 can submit a claim for their share of a $725 million class action settlement.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
The settlement is part of the years-long litigation over Facebook’s relationship with Cambridge Analytica, which harvested the personal data of 87 million Facebook users.

The whole CNBC story is here- https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/19/how-facebook-users-can-apply-for-part-of-725-million-settlement.html

Chances are applying for remedy involving this will involve more information that will be marketed as well.

Be careful out there.

OM

 

[skibum69]

What would my settlement be? 2¢?

 

[fmdualexhaust]

Honest story.
Years back I stumbled onto a class action for a product I had bought.
I signed up and 2 years later I got a check for maybe 35 cents.

 

[kbasa]

I got $750 for my Mac keyboard, I got about $900 for telemarketing calls to my home and I'm currently waiting for payment on a Porsche Audi payout when mpg advertised wasn't what was true.

File your claims when you get contacted. It takes about two minutes in most cases, and watch for correspondence when it comes in the mail about your standing in the suit. It will have a website you use to track your claim.

I filed the claim for my car while I was sitting on the bench in my front yard, using my phone.

 

[cajunrider]

Class Action Lawsuit means lawyers get $$$... no one else.

 

[kbasa]

Class Action Lawsuit means lawyers get $$$... no one else.

As a person working in law for 40 years, this is absurd and inaccurate.

 

[rhbike]

As a person working in law for 40 years, this is absurd and inaccurate.

How many accounts do you imagine Facebook had over that span of years? Let's say only 10% of that number can be bothered to apply for compensation. How much does that work out to/individual (assuming there were absolutely no legal fees)?

Since law firms usually do need to make money for their hard work and often get paid out of that settlement too, how much off the top that settlement do you suppose they are entitled to for obtaining the settlement, and to administer divvying up and sending the funds to those that were harmed?

I'm thinking once you go through that basic math, individuals will see very little (especially relatively to any damage they might have incurred), and the law firms involved will have been made more than whole for their efforts in the magnitude of $$$.

 

[bigjohnsd]

What would my settlement be? 2¢?

Assuming the Lawyers and original Plaintiffs split up 33% of the $787 Million then that would leave $478,500,000 for the rest of us. If all 87,000,000 file for their share it would amount to about $5.50 apiece.

Please don't file, more for me!

EDIT - Correct Google settlement figure is $725,000,000 x .66 = $478,500,000/87,000,000=$5.50

I did the math right but typed in the wrong settlement amount above.

 

[kbasa]

How many accounts do you imagine Facebook had over that span of years? Let's say only 10% of that number can be bothered to apply for compensation. How much does that work out to/individual (assuming there were absolutely no legal fees)?

Since law firms usually do need to make money for their hard work and often get paid out of that settlement too, how much off the top that settlement do you suppose they are entitled to for obtaining the settlement, and to administer divvying up and sending the funds to those that were harmed?

I'm thinking once you go through that basic math, individuals will see very little (especially relatively to any damage they might have incurred), and the law firms involved will have been made more than whole for their efforts in the magnitude of $$$.

In my experience on both sides of this, the attorneys may get 30ish percent, but it's often done for less. Lots of folks, just like the ones in this thread, start with "I'm not gonna get anything" and don't bother to file, so there's attrition up front.

The fee structure for plaintiff firms representing class action is typically based on the amount of work they have to invest to litigate the matter to success. What you don't see is the number of cases they take on that don't go anywhere, so while yes, they get paid on lots of this, for a lot of their work they won't see anything.

Plaintiff fees are highly controlled by the courts, but plaintiff counsel are also the folks that represent folks like you and I when we get wronged. Get hit on your bike? Plaintiff counsel, often called ambulance chasers by those that don't understand, will regularly take a case on a contingency. It might cost $100K to litigate the effects of that crash. Your hospital stay, your bills, your ambulance ride, your lost work are all items they're going to try and recover from entities that are responsible for your loss. No settlement and they've eaten all that expenditure. But if you win, so do they.

So, are plaintiff law firms rolling in dough? Sometimes. But as compared to the corporate defense lawyers I also work with, plaintiff counsel that pursue things like class actions, wrongful injury, opioid class actions, vehicle failure class actions and the like are the folks that stand up for us regular folks and protect our rights.

Your mileage may vary, but that's what I've learned in 40 years in this industry as a non-lawyer supporting document review, production and deposition in litigation.

 

[kbasa]

Assuming the Lawyers and original Plaintiffs split up 33% of the $787 Million then that would leave $478,500,000 for the rest of us. If all 87,000,000 file for their share it would amount to about $5.50 apiece.

Please don't file, more for me!

$787M was the Domain settlement Fox is paying, no?

That firm took about half their normal fees to litigate that matter, btw. I'd expect they're getting 10-15%. I'd bet that Dominion easily has a couple million dollars of legal fees invested in this already and that subsequent litigation will continue to consume some of their money.

But now they have 3/4B dollars in their war chest.

 

[TEDZEMLICKA]

I know mine will be zero, never joined. Never felt a need to post what I was having for breakfast.

 

[akbeemer]

Assuming the Lawyers and original Plaintiffs split up 33% of the $787 Million then that would leave $478,500,000 for the rest of us. If all 87,000,000 file for their share it would amount to about $5.50 apiece.

Please don't file, more for me!

That is 33.33333% plus their expenses, which, I am confident, will be immense.

 

[Omega Man]

Assuming the Lawyers and original Plaintiffs split up 33% of the $787 Million then that would leave $478,500,000 for the rest of us. If all 87,000,000 file for their share it would amount to about $5.50 apiece.

Please don't file, more for me!

2.96 billion
Facebook is the most popular social media in the world, with 2.96 billion monthly active users as of 2023. Facebook has 2 billion daily active users as of 2023. Facebook's average revenue per user (ARPU) is $10.86. Facebook has 264 million monthly active users in the United States and Canada alone. 5days ago

You have a lot of compadres there on Facebook.

OM

 

[kbasa]

For clarity, this is US litigation and doesn't include any potential plaintiffs outside the US, so the number will be significantly lower than their global user population.

I ditched that cesspool 7 years ago after being on it for 10 and don't miss a single thing about it.

 

[fmdualexhaust]

I know mine will be zero, never joined. Never felt a need to post what I was having for breakfast.

So what DID you have for breakfast?

 

[bigjohnsd]

$787M was the Domain settlement Fox is paying, no?

That firm took about half their normal fees to litigate that matter, btw. I'd expect they're getting 10-15%. I'd bet that Dominion easily has a couple million dollars of legal fees invested in this already and that subsequent litigation will continue to consume some of their money.

But now they have 3/4B dollars in their war chest.

Dave, you are correct - the Facebook settlement is just a little less, only $725 Million, whats 50 million among friends?

"Anyone in the U.S. who used Facebook in the last 16 years can now collect a piece of a $725 million settlement by parent company Meta tied to privacy violations — as long as they fill out a claim on a website set up to pay out money to the social network's users."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/facebook-settlement-money-how-to-claim-meta/

Correct Google settlement figure is $725,000,000 x .66 = $478,500,000/87,000,000=$5.50

I did the math right but typed in the wrong settlement amount in my post above.

 

[kbasa]

Dave, you are correct - the Facebook settlement is just a little less, only $725 Million, whats 50 million among friends?

"Anyone in the U.S. who used Facebook in the last 16 years can now collect a piece of a $725 million settlement by parent company Meta tied to privacy violations — as long as they fill out a claim on a website set up to pay out money to the social network's users."

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/facebook-settlement-money-how-to-claim-meta/

Correct Google settlement figure is $725,000,000 x .66 = $478,500,000/87,000,000=$5.50

I did the math right but typed in the wrong settlement amount in my post above.

IF everyone signs up. Participation will be significantly lower. Typical participation in class action recoveries is somewhere like 5%, so if you take that level of participation and even make it say 15% for this one, you're going to get more than $5.

I'm going to file. Why not? The form is about 10 questions.

Exercise your rights as an American that's been taken advantage of in some way by a corporation and get compensated.