Facebook users who had an active account sometime from May 2007 to December 2022 may be in for an unexpected sum of money.
This comes as part of the $725 million
settlement that
parent company Meta accepted related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
The company led by Mark Zuckerberg agreed last December to make the million-dollar payment to resolve a long class action lawsuit that
accused it of allowing Cambridge Analytica and related companies
to access private user information and generate manipulation campaigns.
The trial began four years ago, following international outrage over the company's disclosure that the private information of up to 87 million Facebook users was obtained by Cambridge Analytica, a data analysis firm that worked with the Donald Trump campaign
. in 2016.
The California judge overseeing the case preliminarily approved the settlement late last month, and Facebook users
can already request a cash payment
as part of a settlement.
The company that owns the social network began to inform users that their privacy was violated through a notification on the platform, so that they can start the respective process.
The application form, which requires some personal data and information about the user's Facebook account,
can be completed online or printed and sent by post
.
It only takes a few minutes to complete the form, which must be submitted by August 25 to be included in the agreement.
At this time, any Facebook user in the United States who had an active account at any time between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022, can be part of the class, including those who have deleted their accounts.
What remains to be known is the amount insured for each settlement payment.
The fund will be distributed to those who submit valid requests based on how long they have had an active Facebook account during the aforementioned period.
On the other hand, the final approval hearing of the agreement is scheduled for September 7.
The Californian justice assured that the payments of the agreement will be distributed after the approval of the court, assuming that there are no appeals.
Trial against Facebook for illegal dismissals
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta.
Photo: REUTERS.
However, the problems for Meta are not only in the United States.
A Kenyan court confirmed Thursday its jurisdiction to judge the alleged illegal dismissals of 183 former Facebook content moderators in the African country.
"The (Milimani Commercial, Nairobi) court considers that it has jurisdiction to determine the issue of the alleged unlawful and unfair termination of the plaintiffs' jobs," Judge Nduma Nderi ruled.
Thus, Nderi rejected the arguments of Meta's legal team, which last week, during a hearing prior to a possible trial, questioned the jurisdiction of the Kenyan court to judge the case.
The 183 litigants accuse Meta and the outsourcing company Samasource Kenya EPZ (Sama), a Kenya-based company, of discrimination and violation of their rights.
They say they lost their jobs as content moderators on the social network for creating a union last January.
Already on March 20, when the former moderators filed their lawsuit, Mutemi described this case as "the biggest legal challenge so far for Meta's African operations."
This is not the only dispute that Meta is facing in Africa: on December 14, three litigants in Nairobi filed a lawsuit worth nearly 2 billion euros against the company in relation to the role of Facebook in the spread
of violence and discourse in Africa.
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