The Facebook settlement is a $725 million class action resolving claims that the company let third-party apps, including Cambridge Analytica, access users’ personal data without permission. It covers U.S. residents who held a Facebook account at any point between May 24, 2007 and December 22, 2022. If you filed a valid claim by the August 25, 2023 deadline, your first payment went out in September 2025 and averaged about $29. A smaller second-round payment, averaging around $6, began rolling out on June 9, 2026 to people who cashed the first one.1The Hill. Bonus Payments Announced in $725M Facebook Privacy Settlement2CBS News. Facebook User Privacy Settlement Second Check
Who Was Eligible
The settlement class included every U.S. Facebook user who held an account for any length of time between May 24, 2007 and December 22, 2022. That worked out to an estimated 250 to 280 million people.3Facebook User Privacy Settlement. Facebook User Privacy Settlement4BBC News. Meta Agrees to Pay $725m to Settle Cambridge Analytica Case About 19 million actually filed a claim.5Yahoo Finance. Facebook User Privacy Settlement Payment
Claims had to be submitted online or by mail by August 25, 2023. If you missed that deadline, there is no way to file now; the claims window is closed and no new claim can be added to either distribution round.6PIRG. Deadline: Facebook Claim The claim form asked for your name, address, email, at least one identifier tied to your Facebook account (username, email, or phone number), and a preferred payment method: PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, direct deposit, paper check, or a prepaid Mastercard.7Money. How to Claim Facebook Settlement Money
How Much the First Payment Was
After attorneys’ fees, service awards, and administrative costs came off the top, roughly $556 million was left to divide among about 17 million claimants whose submissions were validated.1The Hill. Bonus Payments Announced in $725M Facebook Privacy Settlement5Yahoo Finance. Facebook User Privacy Settlement Payment
Individual amounts were calculated on an “allocation points” system tied to how long each person’s account had been active during the class period. Longer account tenure meant more points, which meant a bigger share. Actual payments ranged from $4.89 to $38.37, with a median of $32.45 and an average of $29.43.1The Hill. Bonus Payments Announced in $725M Facebook Privacy Settlement8Courthouse News Service. Ninth Circuit Upholds $725M Facebook Settlement in Cambridge Analytica Case9Keller Rohrback L.L.P. Facebook, Inc. Data Breach
The Second Payment in June 2026
A lot of that first-round money never reached anyone. A May 2026 court report found that 211,850 physical checks were uncashed and 3 million digital payments expired or were never activated, leaving roughly $100.5 million in the fund.10CT Insider. Facebook Second Settlement Checks The court approved redistributing what was left to claimants who had successfully received and cashed their first payment.
The second round began on June 9, 2026, with payments rolling out in batches over four weeks. After administrative costs, about $94.6 million is being divided among roughly 15.65 million eligible recipients, for an estimated average of $6.04 per person.2CBS News. Facebook User Privacy Settlement Second Check10CT Insider. Facebook Second Settlement Checks
The claims administrator, Angeion Group, sends an email three to four days before each batch is paid. The subject line reads “Facebook User Privacy Settlement – Settlement and Second Distribution Status Update.”2CBS News. Facebook User Privacy Settlement Second Check If you never cashed your first check or activated your digital payment, you don’t qualify for this second one.11NBC Chicago. Some Users May Get a Second Facebook Settlement Check
To check on a payment or ask about status, email info@facebookuserprivacysettlement.com with your claim ID number.12The Hill. Haven’t Gotten a Facebook Settlement Check? Here’s What to Do
What the Lawsuit Was About
The case, In re: Facebook, Inc. Consumer Privacy User Profile Litigation, grew out of the 2018 revelation that a Cambridge University psychology professor had built a personality-quiz app that harvested data from up to 87 million Facebook users without their consent. That information ended up with Cambridge Analytica, which used it to build voter profiles for the 2016 U.S. presidential election.4BBC News. Meta Agrees to Pay $725m to Settle Cambridge Analytica Case13FTC. In the Matter of Cambridge Analytica, LLC
Plaintiffs alleged that starting in 2007, Facebook let thousands of third-party apps bundle and sell access to users’ private information without authorization. Cambridge Analytica was the most visible example but not the only one.14Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP. Facebook Consumer Privacy15NPR. Facebook Agrees to Settle Cambridge Analytica Privacy Lawsuit for $725 Million16Angeion Public / N.D. Cal. Order Granting Final Approval of Settlement
Not the Same as the Facebook Tracking Settlement
A separate Facebook privacy case pays out around the same time, and it’s easy to mix them up. In re: Facebook Internet Tracking Litigation is a $90 million settlement over “datr” cookies that allegedly tracked users on non-Facebook sites after they had logged out. It covers a much narrower class: people who visited non-Facebook websites displaying the “Like” button between April 22, 2010 and September 26, 2011. Payments of roughly $40 per person started in April 2025 after the Supreme Court declined to hear an objector appeal in January 2025.17EPIC. In re: Facebook, Inc. Internet Tracking Litigation18Top Class Actions. Facebook Begins Paying Users Who Claimed Their Privacy Was Violated via Unlawful Tracking If a payment or notification you received references tracking or cookies rather than Cambridge Analytica, it’s from the tracking case, not the $725 million settlement.