With Meta agreeing to a $50 million settlement over claims that the company ran roughshod over Australians’ privacy during the Facebook Cambridge Analytica controversy, Australia’s information commissioner promised that some Australians will get a slice of the payout.
In a statement today, Australia’s information commissioner Elizabeth Tydd celebrated the “largest ever payment” as part of an enforceable undertaking that came from court-ordered mediation with Meta.
A spokesperson for the tech company said it settled the matter to “close the chapter on allegations” about the way that company’s products used to work. “We look forward to continuing to build services Australians love and trust with privacy at the forefront,” said Meta in an email to Crikey.
The commissioner’s court case claimed that Meta had allowed its users to have their privacy breached by disclosing information to a Facebook app, This Is Your Digital Life, which was exposed to controversial political advertising firm Cambridge Analytica which used it for political profiling.
While some of the firm’s claims about the sophistication and effectiveness of its methods may have been exaggerated, the unveiling of Cambridge Analytica’s abuse of Facebook’s lax privacy security settings to obtain data from people using the platform sparked a global shift in expectations and opinions of big tech.
The details of how affected Australians will be able to access a pay-out will be worked out next year, according to the commissioner’s statement. A third-party administrator will be appointed by Meta next year to run the scheme.
People are eligible if they had a Facebook account between November 2, 2013 and December 17, 2015, were in Australia for 30 days or more, and either had installed the app or had a Facebook friend who did. Larger payouts will likely be given to anyone who can prove they suffered loss or damage.
Not sure if this is you? Meta is required to identify those eligible, help notify them, and to tell the third-party administrator to publicise the scheme.
But if you don’t want to wait, Meta previously set up a webpage (here) that will tell you if you were affected. Crikey has confirmed with the company that the page is still working.
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