A U.S. judge granted final approval on Monday to Facebook's USD20 million settlement despite objections from plaintiff's that the lawsuit failed to cover children's privacy. Five plaintiffs filed the class action lawsuit in 2011, stating that Facebook's "Sponsored Stories" system shared users' "likes" without compensating them. The system also did not give users the option to opt out.
According to the settlement terms, Facebook is required to pay USD20 million as compensation for class members. The company also promised to provide users more control over their content and how they are shared. Plaintiff lawyers estimate these changes to have a maximum value of USD145 million.
This case highlighted the privacy concerns that plagued the social networking titan since it began its drive to monetize user content. Court filings show that Facebook charged advertisers approximately USD234 million for "Sponsored Stories" between January 2011 and August 2012.
Child rights advocates had argued that the content minors share on Facebook should never be shared with advertisers.
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