Cash transfers from Meta class action explained

Have any of you received a direct cash transfer of $36.29 into your  bank account from an organization called MNP? I have. At first, I thought it was a scam. But some quick research indicates that I received the money from a Calgary-based company as a payout from a class action suit against Meta (Facebook’s owner).  

So, not a scam. But I find it spooky nonetheless that MNP, working for Meta, could so easily send a direct transfer to my bank via my email account. Then again, it is not surprising because upon joining Facebook, Meta had my email address.

Meta shared private information

According to Forbes, an American business magazine: “The settlement was the result of a four-year battle against Facebook’s parent company, Meta. In the end, Meta agreed to fork over $725 million to Facebook users to settle allegations that it shared private information with third-party companies.”

 As one of the affected Facebook users  told the New York Times, “You are the product on the internet.”

Cambridge Analytica and Russians

The most high-profile company that was named in the suit is Cambridge Analytica, a former political consulting firm. You may recall that Cambridge Analytica obtained personal data, improperly, from  Facebook users without their  consent.

Much of that data was used to build profiles of voters to reach in helping the pro-Brexit in Great Britain, and Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign in 2016. Former Trump aide Stephen K. Bannon was an Analytica board member.

And oh yes, the Russians were involved with Cambridge Analytica too, through Lukoil, the Kremlin-linked oil giant. The Times reported in April 2018 that, “Lukoil was interested in the ways data was used to target American voters [in 2016], according to two former company insiders.”

Class action suit

In any event, good journalism blew the whistle, and a class action suit followed. The New York Times reported that as many as eighty-seven million users were affected, most, but not all, in the United States. About eighteen million users submitted claims deemed in the lawsuit, likely the largest number of claims ever filed in a U.S. class action case.

Money flows in Canada

Of the $725 million being paid out, about $51 million CAD is being shared among thousands of Canadian users. That money has just begun to flow.  I do not recall registering for the class action suit, but I probably did. I have no idea if any of my information was shared, and if so, with whom. Meta does not easily divulge that information.

Creepy tech billionaires

 Meta paid up but, typically, denied breaking any American laws. I am sceptical about that claim; but if not illegal, it was at the least creepy. And it is even more creepy now to see crypto fascist tech billionaires rushing to Mar Lago to kiss the ring of convicted felon Donald Trump, and offer to help pay for his inauguration.