Meta has paid the Australian Information Commissioner $50 million to settle civil penalty proceedings in a dispute about Australian Facebook users impacted by Cambridge Analytica.
The payment scheme will be open to eligible users who had their data leaked by using the This is Your Digital Life app, which masqueraded as an online quiz but garnered data that was used for political profiling purposes.
This was in breach of the Privacy Act 1988, and led to a civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court that began in 2020.
“Today’s settlement represents the largest ever payment dedicated to addressing concerns about the privacy of individuals in Australia,” Australian Information Commissioner Elizabeth Tydd said.
“It represents a substantive resolution of privacy concerns raised by the Cambridge Analytica matter, gives potentially affected Australians an opportunity to seek redress through Meta’s payment program, and brings to an end a lengthy court process.”
A Meta spokesperson told B&T: “We settled on a no admissions basis, as it is in the best interest of our community and shareholders that we close this chapter on allegations that relate to past practices no longer relevant to how Meta’s products or systems work today. We look forward to continuing to build services Australians love and trust with privacy at the forefront.”
About 311,000 Australian users had their data harvested in the scheme in the lead up to the 2016 US election that was won by Donald Trump. Globally, more than 87 million Facebook users were impacted by the data breach.
In the wake of the scandal, the social media network removed at least 70 Facebook and 65 Instagram accounts — as well as 138 Facebook Pages — that were controlled by the Russia-based Internet Research Agency (IRA).
Under the terms of the settlement, Meta will be required to set up a payment scheme, which will be run by an independent third-party administrator, who will be announced early next year.
Who it applies to
The scheme will be open to individuals who:
- Held a Facebook Account between 2 November 2013 and 17 December 2015;
- Were present in Australia for more than 30 days during that period; and,
- Either installed the This is Your Digital Life app or were Facebook friends with an individual who installed the app.
The payment scheme will be structured into two tiers of payments. The first will permit individuals to apply for a base payment if they believe they experienced generalised concern or embarrassment because of the matter.
The second category will provide for specific payment, likely to be higher than the base payment, to those who can demonstrate they have suffered loss or damage.
The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner anticipates individuals may be able to start applying to the payment program in the second quarter of 2025.
Any residual funds not used in the payment scheme will be paid into the Commonwealth’s Consolidated Revenue Fund.
“The payment scheme is a significant amount that demonstrates that all entities operating in Australia must be transparent and accountable in the way they handle personal information, in accordance with their obligations under Australian privacy law, and give users reasonable choice and control about how their personal information is used,” Commissioner Tydd said.
“This also applies to global corporations that operate here. Australians need assurance that whenever they provide their personal information to an organisation, they are protected by the Privacy Act wherever that information goes.”
“We remain committed to applying our powers under the Privacy Act to achieve proportionate outcomes to ensure that Australians’ privacy is protected, particularly with respect to technologies that have a high privacy impact. This groundbreaking outcome reflects the significant concerns of the Australian community,” Privacy Commissioner Carly Kind said.
