Generally, Facebook is making money of you (or at least trying) by collecting all your info and then parceling it all out for ads. But now the tables have turned, maybe kinda sorta. Thanks to an ongoing class action lawsuit, you may be entitled to up to a whopping $SU10 from the social networking giant. Take that, Zuck!
In October, Facebook agreed to a settlement about this whole Sponsored Stories issue, wherein they may have used your likeness in a Sponsored Story ad without your permission. The settlement set aside $US20 million for you poor, wronged souls, and now Facebook is starting to get ready to pay it out.
How do you know if you’re included? Well, if you got a super-legal-y it-almost-looks-like-a-scam email from Facebook about “LEGAL NOTICE OF SETTLEMENT OF CLASS ACTION”, you’re in. All you have to do is file a claim form online, and you’re signed up for a sweet $US10 slice of that pie. Maybe. There is a catch. If too many people claim, and there’s not enough money to go around, the whole chunk of change will go to a non-profit. And as Buzzfeed points out, there are 150 million Facebook users in the US and only $US20 million to go around, so that’s more than likely.
But hey, maybe you’ll wind up getting cut a check from Facebook. There’s only one way to find out. So make sure you check that old Hotmail account you used to sign up years and years ago. There could a shot at 10 bucks sitting in there. [Buzzfeed]