Facebook’s $750 million settlement payments start this month: See if you’re getting a check

Starting in August 2025, Americans who filed claims in the massive $725 million class-action settlement against Facebook (now Meta) will begin receiving their payouts. This lawsuit centres on the improper sharing of users’ personal data—with Cambridge Analytica being the most infamous third-party recipient—without explicit consent.

In a statement at the time of the announcement, the company said settling was “in the best interest of our community and shareholders. We look forward to continuing to build services people love and trust with privacy at the forefront.”

However, tech author James Ball told the BBC that it was “not that much” money to the tech giant: “It’s less than a tenth of what it spent on its efforts to create ‘the metaverse’ last year alone,” he said. “So Meta probably won’t be too unhappy with this deal, but it does stand as a warning to social media companies that mistakes can prove very costly indeed.”

Around 17 million people eligible to claim

The settlement, which received court approval back in 2023, involved administrators combing through some 28 million claims to verify eligibility. Roughly 17 million claimants met the criteria and are now slated to receive payments. Because of the high volume of eligible users, individual payouts are modest, hovering around a median of $30 per person, with variations depending on how long someone had an active Facebook account.

“As far as we can tell that’s the largest number of claims ever filed in a class action in the United States,” Lesley Weaver, co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the case, said in court.

Payments will be delivered over a 10-week window beginning in August. Claimants will receive funds via their preferred method selected in the initial claims process—this could be direct deposit, a mailed prepaid card, or PayPal.

Those who haven’t yet seen their payments shouldn’t worry—they should arrive within that timeframe.

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