Facebook users in B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Newfoundland and Labrador are eligible for compensation as part of a $51 million class-action settlement accusing the social media giant of privacy breaches on its platform.
A British Columbia Supreme Court judge approved the $51 million class-action settlement between Facebook parent company Meta and 4.3 million users in four provinces in March.
The settlement, related to Facebook’s use of profile pictures in its now-defunct sponsored stories, is not an admission of wrongdoing by the tech titan. Rather, it is a compromise that allows the company to resolve the claims without any “admission of liability” by the defendant, according to class administrator MNP Ltd.
Payout Eligibility
Those residing in B.C., Saskatchewan, Manitoba, or Newfoundland and Labrador with a registered Facebook account between Jan. 1, 2011, and May 30, 2014, are eligible for a share of the settlement, according to MNP.
A Facebook user’s account must also have used his or her real name and had a profile picture that included an identifiable self-image. That image must have been used by the social media giant in a sponsored story, according to the settlement agreement.
Determining if a user was actually featured in a sponsored story is all but impossible, however. That means any Facebook user who was a resident of the four provinces and used their real name or had an identifiable profile photo would be entitled to a payout, according to MNP’s FAQ page.
Lawyers for the plaintiff said most Facebook users can expect to receive between $20 and $55 with a possible maximum of $200.
Related Stories
Claimants will be asked to provide their name, contact information, Facebook user name, approximate date of sign-up on Facebook, and the email address associated with their account.
The deadline to submit a claim is Aug. 20, at 5 p.m. PT.
Sponsored Stories
The sponsored stories case began more than a decade ago when Deborah Louise Douez in 2012 called a lawyer after her Facebook photo appeared alongside an endorsement on the social network for an obstacle course race company. It was then that she discovered there was no way to opt out of Facebook’s now-defunct sponsored stories ads. The case first went before the B.C. Supreme Court in 2014.
The current class action is a result of the 2017 lawsuit filed by Ms. Douez who took issue with the social network’s former policy that a “Like” on Facebook signified permission to utilize the user’s name and photo in ads on the pages of their Facebook friends.
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
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