Facebook ordered to pay $20m for sharing details on ads

Facebook is ordered to pay $20million to approximately 614,000 users whose personal details appeared in ads without their permission.

09:59 29 August 2013

A suit filed in 2011 against Facebook for displaying personal information of users in ads without their permission has come to an end; a judge ordered the biggest social networking site to pay $20million to approximately 614,000 users. The $20million payout will be divided between attorneys, non-profit advocacy groups, and users. Each of the 614,000 users will receive individual payout of $15 each.

US District Judge Richard Seeborg said in an official statement that the ruling was fair. “Although the monetary relief to each class member is relatively small and the percentage of class members who submitted claims is limited, the settlement as a whole provides fair, reasonable, and adequate relief to the class, in light of all the circumstances, including the low probability that a substantially better result would be obtained through continued litigation.”

Explaining the decision further and the compensation awarded to the plaintiffs, he added: "Sponsored Stories, in Facebook's view, does nothing more than take information users have already voluntarily disclosed to their ‘friends’, and sometimes redisplays it to the same persons, in a column that also contains more traditional paid advertising,"