Time is running out to file claim for a piece of Facebook’s $725M settlement

NEW YORK (WISH) — If you had a Facebook account in the last 16 years and want a chance at free money, listen up.

You have one week left to file a claim for payment in Facebook’s data privacy settlement.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook, agreed in December to a $735 million settlement as part of a host of privacy-related class action lawsuits. The lawsuits alleged, among other things, that Facebook let third parties access its users’ private data and that of their friends without users’ permission.

Who’s eligible for the settlement payment? Anyone who has had a Facebook account over the last 16 years, even if it’s not active now.

Applicants are on a time crunch. You need to submit a claim by 11:59 p.m. on August 25 if you’re filing online.

If you file by mail, you need to postmark by August 25.

According to CNN, how much Meta pays you for the settlement depends on several factors:

• How many people file valid claims?

• How long you were an active Facebook user between May 24, 2007 and December 22, 2022?

• What the total net settlement fund is after administrative, after they subtract legal and other costs?

Meta notes that the settlement administrator will award one point for each month you had an activated account. The administrator will then add up all the points assigned to all valid claimants and divide the net settlement amount by that total number of points. That determines how much you would will be paid for each month you were an active user.

It’s still not clear yet when Meta will pay out the claims.

Once everyone’s claims are in, there will be a final approval hearing for the settlement of the case.

A hearing is scheduled for September 7 at 1 p.m., according to the Facebook user privacy settlement website.