Following this announcement, the Australian Information Commissioner has agreed to a USD 50 million payment program as part of an enforceable undertaking (EU) received from Meta Platforms in order to settle civil penalty proceedings. The payment scheme will be open to eligible Australian Facebook users impacted by the Cambridge Analytica matter.
In addition, the Commissioner alleged that the personal information of some Australian Facebook customers was disclosed to the This is Your Digital Life application in breach of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). Furthermore, the information was exposed to the risk of disclosure to Cambridge Analytica and other third parties, risking being used for political profiling purposes.
According to the press release, as part of the resolution, the Commissioner has withdrawn the civil penalty proceedings in the Federal Court. At the same time, the EU requires Meta to set up a payment scheme, which will be run by an independent third-party administrator. This agreement follows a court-ordered mediation, which has been ongoing since February of 2024, as part of the Federal Court civil penalty proceedings the Commissioner commenced in March of 2020.
Meta is expected to appoint a third party to administer the payment scheme, which will be announced in early 2025. The scheme will be open to individuals who held a Facebook Account between 2 November 2013 and 17 December 2015, were present in the region of Australia for more than 30 days during that period, as well as either installed the This is Your Digital Life app, or were Facebook friends with an individual who installed the app.
In addition, the payment scheme will be structured into two tiers of transactions. The first will permit individuals to apply for a base payment if they believe they experienced any type of generalised concern or embarrassment because of the matter. The second category is set to provide for a specific payment, likely to be higher than the base payment, to those who can demonstrate they have suffered loss or damage.
The third-party administrator is expected to also establish a timely internal review avenue for individuals in relation to the payment scheme. The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner anticipates that individuals may be given the possibility to start applying to the payment program in the second quarter of 2025. Furthermore, any residual funds not exhausted in the payment scheme will be paid into the Commonwealth’s Consolidated Revenue Fund, as Meta also paid a contribution to the Commissioner’s legal costs.
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