Judge Approves $20M Facebook Sponsored Stories Settlement

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A federal judge yesterday granted final approval to Facebook’s $20 million Sponsored Stories settlement. Facebook members who had their name, profile picture or any other likeness used in a Sponsored Story on or before December 3, 2012, will receive up to $10 cash if they filed a valid claim for the class action lawsuit settlement.

The Sponsored Stories settlement resolves a 2011 class action lawsuit (Fraley v Facebook Inc.) that alleged Facebook used members’ names and likenesses to sell products without their consent, in violation of California law.

A “Sponsored Story” is an advertisement that appears on a member’s Facebook page and usually consists of a friend’s name, profile picture and designation that the person “likes” the advertiser. Plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit said Facebook never paid them for using their likeness or allowed them to opt out of the advertising program.

Facebook denied any wrong doing but agreed to pay $20 million to compensate Class Members, and also promised to give users more control over how their content is shared. In June, Facebook announced that it was taking the Sponsored Stories feature off the social networking site.

The Facebook class action settlement was originally reached in June 2012 but was rejected by U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg because the agreement entailed paying $10 million to charities, with no monetary benefit for Class Members.

Facebook entered a revised class action settlement agreement in October 2012, which Judge Seeborg preliminarily approved two months later.

On Monday, August 26, 2013, Judge Seeborg granted final approval to the Facebook class action settlement, writing that “while not incorporating all features that some of the objectors might prefer, [the settlement] has significant value.”

The deadline to file a claim for the Facebook Sponsored Stories settlement was May 2, 2013. Payments will likely go out within the next 60-90 days.

If you missed out on filing a claim for this class action lawsuit settlement, sign up for our free weekly e-newsletter below. You can also see which class action settlements are still accepting claims in our Open Class Action Lawsuits section.

The case is Angel Fraley, et al. v. Facebook Inc., et al., Case No. 11-cv-01726 RS, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, San Francisco Division.

UPDATE: Distribution of settlement funds from the Facebook Sponsored Stories Class Action Settlement is being delayed by appeals.

UPDATE 2: On Jan. 6, 2016, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s approval of the Facebook Sponsored Stories class action settlement.

UPDATE 3: On Jan. 20, 2016, the father of an unnamed class action plaintiff asked the Ninth Circuit to revisit their devision to uphold the $20 million Facebook class action lawsuit settlement.

UPDATE 4: On Nov. 17, 2016, Top Class Actions readers who submitted timely and valid claims for the Facebook settlement started receiving checks worth as much as $15. Congratulations to everyone who got PAID!