How big will Facebook settlement checks be? Lawyers reveal estimated payment per person

(NEXSTAR) – Hoping the the massive Facebook privacy settlement is about to change your life? Don’t hold your breath.

Facebook parent company Meta recently agreed to pay $725 million to settle claims it violated users’ privacy by sharing their data with third parties. But that pot of money needs to be divvied up among a huge group of people.

In a court hearing on the lawsuit Thursday, class counsel revealed more than 28 million claims were filed before the deadline passed in August. Of those claims, about 17 million have been preliminarily validated so far.

After attorneys’ fees and administrative costs, the settlement amount is still huge – but it won’t feel that way to the average person. Because there are so many eligible recipients, lawyers for the plaintiffs told Judge Vince Chhabria they expect the median payment to be around $30.

An important thing to note is not everyone will be receiving the same sized payment. Anyone in the U.S. who had a Facebook account between between May 2007 and December 2022 qualifies, but those who had an active account for longer get more money.

The payouts will work on a point system, with one point given for every month you had an active Facebook account in the outlined time period. The more points, the bigger the check.

That makes predicting the size of your payment tough, but based on what was said in court, it probably won’t make or break your monthly budget.

On Thursday, Judge Chhabria gave the lawyers representing the plaintiffs another week to file some additional documents with the court. Once the judge gives the settlement final approval, we’ll be one step closer to payments being sent out. However, there could be appeals, which would delay payments.