When will Illinois residents receive their money from the Facebook lawsuit settlement?

It’s been quite a while, so it’s completely understandable that you may have forgotten some details about the class action lawsuit settlement against Facebook and its parent company Meta.

You may also have forgotten that you were entitled to payment under the terms of the settlement. Here’s a quick refresher:

• In 2023, Meta agreed to pay $725 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that Facebook allowed personal user data to be shared with third parties.
• Although the application process to join the lawsuit has long since closed (it ended in August of last year), anyone who was a Facebook user between May 24, 2007, and December 22, 2022 was eligible to participate, according to the lawsuit settlement page.
• Over 28 million people have applied for benefits, and 17 million of them have been approved. This means that at least 17 million people will receive a portion of the settlement amount.
• The money is not divided equally. Those who have had a Facebook account for longer get more money.
• It is difficult to determine the amount of the payout for each person, but experts believe the average payout will be around $30.

Well, approximately when will the money arrive…

Finally, after waiting nearly a year for news on when settlement payments in the Facebook/Meta lawsuit will begin for Illinois residents and others, we are getting some

Unfortunately, the news is… you’ll just have to keep waiting and be patient. I wish I could give you a whole bunch of details about when you can expect your share of the $725 million in payouts, but there really aren’t.

According to TheHill.com:

Opponents of the settlement have filed two separate appeals against the final settlement, which was approved by a San Francisco judge in October 2023. According to Angeion, the company administering the settlement, it looks like the appeals will be heard sometime before the first half of 2025 or later.”

The article goes on to point out that setting a hearing date is only the first step of several steps. For example, the judge must decide whether the objections are valid and whether further proceedings need to be scheduled.

Bottom line: No payout date has been set for people in Illinois who qualified, and the same goes for the remaining 17 million people who will receive money eventually… one day. It could be years away.