If you're a Facebook user, even if you haven't posted anything to your page in a year or so, you may qualify for some cash. It's all thanks to a class action settlement over how they used your personal information.
Facebook may have shared your info, according to multiple lawsuits.
Courtney Johnson says she's not surprised.
"It's not right, but I think anyone who uses social media has to kind of accept that nothing is private," she said.
Jeannie Cook says if true, "I think it was wrong of them to do that."
Earlier this year, Facebook's parent company Meta agreed to pay $725 million in a class-action privacy lawsuit.
Facebook denies any wrongdoing, but the agreement means that eligible users can file a claim for a chunk of that money. Considering 87 million users were affected, the payout per person may not be much, as little as $6, according to some estimates.
FTC: Facebook failed to protect children's privacy
This is the third time the FTC has acted against Meta over allegations of not protecting users' privacy.
It all depends on how many of those 87 million people apply.
But filing a claim may still be worth it, according to attorney Danny Karon, of the website Your Lovable Lawyer.
"Because it's found money," he said, "the last time somebody offered me money, I took it."
He says in any class-action lawsuit, not filing your claim means:
- Someone else gets your share.
- The money may go to charity.
- It might go back to the defendant.
"It might go back to the bad guy who took the money from you in the first place because it went unclaimed," he said.
A word of caution: before entering personal information, make sure you submit a claimthrough the official claim form and check for important case information to make sure it is not a copycat or scam site.
"You should check the court number, the phone number of the lawyers, the names of the lawyers," Karon said.
To claim money under the Facebook settlement, you had to use Facebook between May 24, 2007 and Dec. 22, 2022. The deadline to file is Aug. 25, 2023.
Crystal Reynolds is going to apply, just on principle.
"I think that's bad, that's terrible," she said.
