If you received a Facebook privacy settlement payment last fall and cashed it, check your email – a second check is on its way. Facebook's parent company Meta is sending a second round of payments from the $725 million class action settlement starting today, June 9, and distributing funds in batches over the next four weeks.
The settlement resolved a long-running lawsuit accusing Facebook of sharing users' data with third parties, including Cambridge Analytica, without their knowledge. Meta denied wrongdoing. First-round payments began in September 2025, averaging about $29.43 per person, according to CBS News. The second distribution will be much smaller. Court-reported estimates put payments between $4.67 and $7.32, with an average around $6.04, according to CT Insider. The money comes from unclaimed funds left after 211,850 paper checks went uncashed and about 3 million digital payments expired or were never activated.
About 15.7 million people who successfully filed claims and cashed their first payment are eligible. You cannot file a new claim at this point; the deadline closed in August 2023. If you qualified for the first round and collected it, you don't need to do anything. Your payment is on its way automatically using the same method you chose the first time, whether that's PayPal, Venmo, Zelle, direct deposit, Virtual Prepaid Mastercard, or a paper check. The settlement administrator says you'll receive an email three to four days before your payment is issued.
If you receive a Virtual Prepaid Mastercard, it can be awkward to use, given the relatively small value. We found the easiest way to deal with this is to transfer the finds into an Amazon virtual gift card. Then that amount can easily be used to fund part of a future purchase on Amazon. Here'
Scammers are already circulating fraudulent messages about this payout, according to the Facebook Settlement website. The settlement administrator will never ask for your Social Security number, driver's license, bank account details, or an upfront fee. Any communication demanding those is a scam. Confirm your status only through the official site, FacebookUserPrivacySettlement.com.
[Image credit: Suzanne Kantra/Techlicious generated by ChatGPT]
