Potentially hundreds of thousands of people who had their Facebook data harvested as part of the Cambridge Analytica scandal could be compensated, after Meta agreed to an A$50m settlement with Australia’s privacy regulator.
The settlement, announced by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) on Tuesday, follows a four-year legal battle against Meta over the scandal, and two years since a US$725m legal settlement was reached in the United States.
The Australian information commissioner, Elizabeth Tydd, said the new settlement represented “the largest ever payment dedicated to addressing concerns about the privacy of individuals in Australia”.
“It represents a substantive resolution of privacy concerns raised by the Cambridge Analytica matter; gives potentially affected Australians an opportunity to seek redress through Meta’s payment program; and brings to an end a lengthy court process,” Tydd said.
In 2018, the Observer revealed Cambridge Analytica, a data analysis company, had harvested millions of Facebook profiles to aid the campaign of Donald Trump and the pro-Brexit campaign in the United Kingdom.
Under the guise of a personality quiz, the app on Facebook would collect information not only by the user who took the quiz, but also information about their friends on Facebook.
In Australia, the OAIC launched legal action in 2020, alleging the breach of privacy of Australian users, and in court documents estimated that only 53 people in Australia installed the quiz app, named This is Your Digital Life.
But the app also obtained the data of the friends of those who downloaded it, with an estimated 311,127 affected.
Under the enforceable undertaking agreed to by Meta, the social media platform will be required to set up a payment scheme run by a third-party administrator from early next year.
Those who will be eligible for compensation will need to have had a Facebook account between 2 November 2013 and 17 December 2015; been present in Australia for more than 30 days in that period; and either installed the This is Your Digital Life app or were Facebook friends with someone who had.
There will be two tiers of payment: one with a base payment if they’ve experienced generalised concern or embarrassment from the matter, and a second category where people will need to demonstrate they’ve suffered loss or damage.
The OAIC estimates people will be able to apply for compensation in the second quarter of 2025, with any leftover funds from the $50m to be paid into the Commonwealth consolidated revenue fund. Meta has also paid a contribution to the OAIC’s legal fees.
A spokesperson for Meta said the settlement was about closing a chapter on the allegations.
“We settled as it is in the best interest of our community and shareholders that we close this chapter on allegations that relate to past practices no longer relevant to how Meta’s products or systems work today,” the spokesperson said. “We look forward to continuing to build services Australians love and trust with privacy at the forefront.”
Much of the delay in the legal case in Australia came after Meta had attempted to argue it was not conducting business in Australia, which would have limited the OAIC’s ability to regulate the company in Australia. The argument was rejected by the high court.
