Cambridge Analytica Facebook settlement payments: Here’s what to know

WASHINGTON — Payments for the $725 million Facebook settlement are finally starting, arriving more than two years after the settlement was granted final approval. 

Meta agreed to pay millions of users to settle a lawsuit alleging the world’s largest social media platform allowed millions of its users’ personal information to be fed to Cambridge Analytica, a firm that supported Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Angeion, the company handling the settlement, confirmed that payments have commenced with a statement on the website homepage. 

“Pursuant to the Court’s Order dated August 27, 2025, the distribution of settlement benefits has commenced and will continue for approximately 10 weeks. We thank you in advance for your patience,” the statement read. 

According to the settlement website, payments are going out this month. 

“Settlement payments are only being sent to class members with approved claims. The distribution of settlement benefits will commence in September 2025 and will continue over the following 10 weeks. If your claim is approved, a notification will be sent to your email 3-4 days before your payment is issued,” the website reads.

The settlement administrator confirmed in an email statement that the notices and payments will be sent to class members in weekly groups. 

Anyone in the U.S. who had a Facebook account at any time between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022, was eligible to receive a payment if they filed a claim. The deadline to submit a claim ended in Aug. 2023. 

The settlement was given final approval in late 2023, but appeals and other litigation have delayed the payouts. 

According to the settlement website, two appeals were filed following the final hearing in October 2023. The two appeals were resolved as of May 14, 2025, and May 22, 2025. 

It’s not clear how much money individual users will receive. 

The payout size will depend on how long each person was a Facebook user and how many claims were filed and approved, the settlement administrator confirmed. Administrative and legal costs will be deducted from the initial $725 million settlement. The leftover amount will become a “net settlement fund,” from which payments will be made. 

According to the website, the settlement will determine how much each user will get based on a point system. Each eligible claimant will get one point for each month they had an activated Facebook account during the period of May 24, 2007, to December 22, 2022. 

Once all the points from the claimants have been added together, the “net settlement fund” is divided by that number. The payment is then calculated by multiplying the value of a point by the number of points earned, meaning the longer you had Facebook during the class period, the longer your share of the settlement will be. 

The case sprang from 2018 revelations that Cambridge Analytica, a firm with ties to Trump political strategist Steve Bannon, had paid a Facebook app developer for access to the personal information of about 87 million users of the platform. That data was then used to target U.S. voters during the 2016 campaign that culminated in Trump’s election as the 45th president.

Uproar over the revelations led to a contrite Zuckerberg being grilled by U.S. lawmakers and spurred calls for people to delete their Facebook accounts.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.