More than a decade after Facebook was accused of tracking users even after they logged off the social media platform, a district court in California has given preliminary approval for a $90 million class-action settlement.
Facebook users in the United States who visited other sites that displayed the Facebook “Like” button between April 22, 2010, and Sept. 25, 2011, may be eligible for a portion of the settlement if it receives final approval.
The suit, initially filed by Perrin Aikens Davis of Illinois, is the seventh-largest data privacy class-action settlement ever to receive preliminary court approval, according to a release from law firm DiCello Levitt Gutzler.
The suit alleges that Facebook tracked members’ activities on non-Facebook websites, even when they were signed out of their Facebook accounts, by installing cookies on users’ computers.
In 2011, Facebook disclosed that it personalizes content by placing onto users’ computers cookie files that remain even when those users are logged out. The company told CNET at the time that it quickly acted to remove uniquely identifying data from post-logout cookies and that it didn’t store or use that cookie data for tracking.
The 2011 suit alleges Facebook’s use of cookies violated the Federal Wiretap Act and other laws.
Blackred/Getty Images“This admission came only after an Australian technology blogger exposed Facebook’s practice of monitoring members who have logged out, although he brought the problems to the defendant’s attention a year ago,” according to a complaint filed in federal court in San Jose, California, in 2011.
The suit alleged that such monitoring violated the Federal Wiretap Act, the Stored Electronic Communications Act and the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Though it’s agreed to the settlement, Facebook parent Meta Platforms “expressly denies any liability or wrongdoing whatsoever,” according to court filings.
The claims administrator, Angeion, has already begun to email eligible recipients, or class members, and will continue to do so through July 15, 2022.
Eligible applicants can also file a claim until Sept. 22 or opt out of the settlement and reserve their right to file their own lawsuit through Sept. 12.
It isn’t yet clear how many class members there will be or how much each individual will receive.
The court has scheduled a final approval hearing for Oct. 27, 2022, at the San Jose Courthouse, where it’ll consider whether the settlement is “fair, reasonable, and adequate.”
In 2021, Facebook agreed to a $650 million class-action settlement to a suit that alleged it broke Illinois’ biometric laws by collecting and storing users’ physical characteristics without their consent.
Nearly 1.6 million Facebook users in the state received $397 payouts.
