Cambridge Analytica affair, continuation, five years after having shaken Facebook. Personal data of Facebook users exploited, without their knowledge, by this consulting company with very political intentions. And it’s time to checkout. But the sums may not be up to the damage.
$725 million is the amount of damages that Facebook and its parent company, Meta, have agreed to pay to put an end to this case. Remember: from 2014, Cambridge Analytica siphons the data of tens of millions of Facebook users in the United States, thanks to a quiz developed by a Russian-American, a certain Aleksandr Kogan.
At the time, officially, this data was intended for research. Kogan works for the British University of Cambridge, which has an agreement with Facebook. Except that this data will be sold, for the sum of one million dollars, and used by the company Cambridge Analytica to create psychological profiles and target messages favorable in particular to the election of Donald Trump in 2016.
From 270,000 to 83 million victims
What is Facebook’s responsibility in this case? Initially, in early 2014, Facebook was deceived by Aleksandr Kogan. In three months, he siphons off at least 60 million accounts. But in July 2015, when Facebook learned of the massive data leak, Mark Zuckerberg’s company simply demanded their deletion, without checking anything. She will take the leaders at their word. And it was not until March 2018 that the case broke out in all its dimensions.
Meanwhile, Cambridge Analytica is having a blast. The famous quiz also accessed, without warning, the data of the Facebook friends of the 270,000 people who installed it, enticed by the 4 dollar reward. And this is how we arrive at a number of victims 300 times greater, since it is therefore between 70 and 83 million.
Deadline: August 25, 2023
It is therefore these Facebook users who will be able to share 725 million dollars, less legal costs, provided that they appear on the dedicated site. This concerns people who lived in the United States between 2007 and the end of 2022, and who had a Facebook account. All you have to do is fill in the form, indicate a means of payment and validate, no later than August 25th.
We are talking about 210,000 French people (in the broad sense, including their friends) who could be eligible for these damages. So how much can they expect to get? $725 million sounds like a dream, but if we divide 725 by 83, the jackpot might not exceed $9 per person, but it will probably be a little more, depending on the proportion of victims who come forward.