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 biggest ever cost for a breach of Australians’ privateness.
However the clock is ticking. Even in case you’re eligible, you solely have till December 31 2025 to make your declare. Comparable payouts have already begun in the US.
From who’s eligible, to easy methods to make a declare, to how a lot the eventual payout is likely to be: right here’s what it’s essential to know.
Why so many Australians can apply
The landmark settlement arose from Meta’s involvement within the Cambridge Analytica scandal: an enormous knowledge breach within the 2010s, when a British knowledge agency harvested personal info from 87 million Fb profiles worldwide.
It led to a record-breaking US$5 billion penalty (about $A7.7 billion in the present day) within the US in opposition to Meta as Fb’s guardian firm, and the creation of a US$725 million (A$1.1 billion) compensation scheme for affected Individuals.
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 info.
That investigation discovered simply 53 Australian Fb customers put in the app. However one other 311,074 Australian Fb customers had been associates of these 53 folks, which means the app might have requested their info too.
In December 2024, the Data Commissioner introduced she had settled a court docket case with Meta in return for an “enforceable undertaking”, 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 info is out there 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 may apply in case you:
held a Fb account between 2 November 2013 and 17 December 2015 (the eligibility interval)
had been in Australia for greater than 30 days throughout that interval, and
both put in the Life app or had been Fb associates with somebody who did.
Easy methods to apply – however look ahead to scams
The Fb Fee 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:
It’s possible you’ll be entitled to obtain cost from litigation lately settled in Australia. Be taught extra.
Do this hyperlink to see if the corporate has information of you or your mates logging into the Digital Life app. If there are, it is best to be capable to use the “fast track” utility.
For those who didn’t get that notification however you assume you had been affected, you may make a declare utilizing the usual course of by proving:
your identification, similar to with a passport or driver’s licence
you held a Fb account and had been positioned 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 might you be eligible for?
That you must select to use for compensation below one in all two “classes”, requiring various kinds of proof.
Class 1: the tougher choice, anticipated to get larger payouts
To say for “specific loss or damage”, 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 had been made public.
You’ll additionally want to indicate that harm was brought on by the Cambridge Analytica knowledge breach. For many individuals, proving in depth loss or harm could also be tough.
Class 1 claims will probably be determined first. There are not any predetermined payout quantities; every will probably 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 choice, more likely to get smaller payouts
Alternatively, you’ll be able to select to say just for loss or harm primarily based on “a generalised concern or embarrassment” brought on by the information breach.
It’s a a lot simpler course of – but additionally more likely 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 induced 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’s cash left after all of the payouts, KPMG pays that quantity to the Australian authorities’s Consolidated Income Fund.
Meta informed 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 top 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 might find yourself going to the federal authorities.
Funds are anticipated to be constructed from round August 2026.
How a lot are payouts more likely 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 on the measurement 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 depend upon how many individuals trouble to register between now and December 31.
Graham Greenleaf, Honorary Professor, Macquarie Legislation Faculty, Macquarie College and Katharine Kemp, Affiliate Professor, College of Legislation & Justice; Lead, UNSW Public Curiosity Legislation & Tech Initiative, UNSW Sydney
This text is republished from The Dialog below a Artistic Commons license. Learn the unique article.
