Economy

Facebook privacy settlement: How to know when your payment is coming

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(NEXSTAR) — For the millions of Americans expecting a check from the $725 million Facebook privacy settlement, the wait is nearly over.

The distribution of payments has officially begun, the company in charge of sending them has confirmed, and will continue in batches for about 10 weeks.

How do you know when it’s your turn? You should receive an email from the settlement administrator with “Notice of Settlement Payment” in the subject line. Once that hits your inbox, you should see your payment in three to four business days.


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How you receive the payment depends on the method you chose when you originally filed your claim. It could be through Venmo, Zelle, PayPal, or direct deposit.

Thanks to recent court documents, we also now have a better idea of how much you can expect to receive once your payment does come through. The smallest possible payment is $4.89 and the maximum payment is $38.36. The average payment will be $29.43. (Read more about how your payment is calculated, and whether you’ll get closer to $5 or $40 here.)

If you receive the notice via email but don’t get paid within 30 days, the settlement administrator suggests you contact info@facebookuserprivacysettlement.com.


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What is the class action lawsuit about?

The social media company agreed to pay $725 million to settle claims it violated users’ privacy by sharing their data with third parties. The most famous third party was Cambridge Analytica, a consulting firm that supported Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. The firm harvested the data of as many as 87 million Facebook users, the Associated Press reported.

While Meta agreed to the payout, it denies wrongdoing.