The stench of Cambridge Analytica still hangs over Facebook, as parent Meta has agreed to pay AUD$50 million ($31.7 million) to 311,000 Australian users over the scandal. The settlement with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) follows a four-year dispute with Meta and follows a $725 million award in the US, as well as payouts in the UK and elsewhere.
The Australian Information Commissioner, Elizabeth Tidd, said, “It presents a concrete resolution to the privacy concerns raised by the Cambridge Analytica case; gives potentially affected Australians the opportunity to seek redress through Meta’s payout program; and ends a lengthy court process.”
Cambridge Analytica, which is now defunct, accessed Australian users’ personal data through an app (This Is Your Digital Life) and used the information collected to target individuals with personally tailored messages.
The scam was exposed in 2018 by The New York Times and The Guardian, thanks largely to whistleblower Christopher Wylie. Although the app was only downloaded by a small number of users, it also accessed their friends’ data, affecting 311,127 people in total.
Meta will be required to set up a payment system run by a third-party administrator by early 2025. Smaller payments will be issued to people who experience “generalized anxiety or embarrassment,” while higher amounts will be given to those who can prove they have suffered loss or damage. Anyone affected should be able to apply in Q2 2025.
In a statement, Meta showed no remorse and said the settlement was more or less a business decision. A spokesperson told The Guardian, “We settled because it is in the best interests of our community and shareholders that we close this chapter on allegations that relate to past practices that are no longer relevant to the way Meta’s products or systems work today.”
The case took four years to resolve because Meta claimed it wasn’t technically doing business in Australia, but that argument was eventually rejected by the country’s highest court.