Proper now, greater than 311,000 Australian Fb customers can apply for a slice of a A$50 million compensation fund from tech big Meta – the largest ever cost for a breach of Australians’ privateness.
However the clock is ticking. Even in the event you’re eligible, you solely have till December 31 2025 to make your declare. Related payouts have already begun in the US.
From who’s eligible, to find out how to make a declare, to how a lot the eventual payout is likely to be: right here’s what you must know.
Why so many Australians can apply
The landmark settlement arose from Meta’s involvement within the Cambridge Analytica scandal: a large knowledge breach within the 2010s, when a British knowledge agency harvested non-public data from 87 million Fb profiles worldwide.
It led to a record-breaking US$5 billion penalty (about $A7.7 billion at this time) within the US towards Meta as Fb’s mother or father firm, and the creation of a US$725 million (A$1.1 billion) compensation scheme for affected People.
Right here in Australia, an investigation by the nationwide privateness regulator – the Workplace of the Australian Data Commissioner – discovered Cambridge Analytica used the This Is Your Digital Life persona quiz app to extract private data.
That investigation discovered simply 53 Australian Fb customers put in the app. However one other 311,074 Australian Fb customers have been pals of these 53 individuals, that means the app may have requested their data too.
In December 2024, the Data Commissioner introduced she had settled a courtroom case with Meta in return for an “enforceable endeavor”, together with a document A$50 million cost program.
Claims opened on June 30 this 12 months and shut on December 31.
Registrations have opened for a cost program established by Meta for Australian Fb customers impacted by the Cambridge Analytica incident.
Extra data is offered from scheme administrator KPMG: https://t.co/Bxd2h1nzO7 pic.twitter.com/Gc6G89oGlh
— Workplace of the Australian Data Commissioner (@OAICgov) June 30, 2025
Who can apply?
You possibly can apply in the event you:
- held a Fb account between 2 November 2013 and 17 December 2015 (the eligibility interval)
- have been in Australia for greater than 30 days throughout that interval, and
- both put in the Life app or have been Fb pals with somebody who did.
How you can apply – however look ahead to scams
The Fb Cost Program is being administered by consultants KPMG. (Meta has to pay KPMG to run it; that doesn’t come out of the $50 million fund.)
That web site is the place to go along with questions or to lodge a declare.
Meta has despatched all Australians it is aware of could also be eligible this “token” notification inside Fb:
You could be entitled to obtain cost from litigation lately settled in Australia. Be taught extra.
Attempt this hyperlink to see if the corporate has information of you or your mates logging into the Digital Life app. If there are, you need to have the ability to use the “quick monitor” software.
If you happen to didn’t get that notification however you suppose you have been affected, you may make a declare utilizing the commonplace course of by proving:
- your identification, akin to with a passport or driver’s licence
- you held a Fb account and have been situated in Australia through the eligibility interval.
However be careful for scammers pretending to be from Fb or to be serving to with claims.
Which payout may you be eligible for?
You could select to use for compensation below one in all two “lessons”, requiring several types of proof.
Class 1: the more durable possibility, anticipated to get increased payouts
To say for “particular loss or injury”, you’ll want to offer documented proof of financial and/or non-economic loss or damages. For instance, this might embody out-of-pocket medical or counselling prices, or having to maneuver in case your private particulars have been made public.
You’ll additionally want to point out that injury was attributable to the Cambridge Analytica knowledge breach. For many individuals, proving intensive loss or injury could also be troublesome.
Class 1 claims can be determined first. There aren’t any predetermined payout quantities; every can be determined individually.
In case your class 1 declare is unsuccessful, however you’re in any other case eligible for a payout, it is possible for you to to get a category 2 payout as a substitute.
Class 2: the simpler possibility, prone to get smaller payouts
Alternatively, you possibly can select to assert just for loss or injury based mostly on “a generalised concern or embarrassment” attributable to the information breach.
It’s a a lot simpler course of – but additionally prone to be a a lot smaller cost.
All class 2 claimants will obtain the identical quantity, after the category 1 payouts.
These claimants solely want to offer a statutory declaration that they’ve a real perception the breach brought about them concern or embarrassment.
In Meta’s enforceable endeavor with the Data Commissioner, it states KPMG is ready to apply a cap on funds to claimants. It additionally says if there may be cash left after all of the payouts, KPMG pays that quantity to the Australian authorities’s Consolidated Income Fund.
Meta instructed The Dialog:
There’s not a pre-determined cap on funds. The suitable time to find out whether or not any cap ought to apply to funds made to claimants is following the tip of the registration interval [December 31].
So it’s not but clear how a lot of the $50 million fund will go to Australian claimants versus how a lot may find yourself going to the federal authorities.
Funds are anticipated to be comprised of round August 2026.
How a lot are payouts prone to be?
Payouts from related settlements by Meta elsewhere have been very small. For instance, US Fb customers eligible for his or her US$725 million compensation scheme have expressed shock at the scale of their payouts. One report suggests the common US cost is round US$30 (A$45) every.
Right here in Australia, rather a lot will rely upon how many individuals trouble to register between now and December 31.
- Graham Greenleaf, Honorary Professor, Macquarie Regulation College, Macquarie College and Katharine Kemp, Affiliate Professor, School of Regulation & Justice; Lead, UNSW Public Curiosity Regulation & Tech Initiative, UNSW Sydney
This text is republished from The Dialog below a Inventive Commons license. Learn the authentic article.
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