Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, reaches $50m settlement with OAIC over Cambridge Analytica scandal

Tech giant Meta has agreed to pay out a whopping sum to Australians who were impacted by a major privacy scandal.

US tech giant Meta has agreed to pay out $50m to Australians impacted by the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal in a landmark settlement with the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

The settlement, which is made on a no admissions basis, ends a long-running civil dispute between the commissioner and the $2.5t behemoth, which kicked off in March 2020.

The OAIC alleged the personal information of Australian Facebook users was disclosed to the This is Your Digital Life app for a purpose other than the purpose for which the information was collected, in breach of the 1988 Privacy Act.

“The information was exposed to the risk of being disclosed to Cambridge Analytica and used for political profiling purposes, and to other third parties,” the OAIC said at the time.

Cambridge Analytica was a data company that allegedly improperly accessed data from millions of Facebook users and then used the information to target voters with personalised political advertisements.

It shut down in 2018.

US-listed Meta owns Facebook and Instagram. Picture: AFP

On Tuesday, the OAIC agreed to a $50m payment program from Meta as part of an enforceable undertaking to settle the dispute.

Meta will now set up a payment scheme that will be overseen by an independent third-party administrator.

The payment scheme will be structured into two tiers of payments, the OAIC said.

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 losses or damages.

The scheme is open to users who held a Facebook account between November 2, 2013 and December 17, 2025, who 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 OAIC expects applications for payments could begin in the second quarter of 2025.

“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,” Australian Information Commissioner Elizabeth 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.”

Meta is also required to make “reasonable best efforts” to notify those who were potentially impacted.

A Meta spokesman said the settlement was in the best interest of its community and shareholders.

“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,” the spokesman said.

“We look forward to continuing to build services Australians love and trust with privacy at the forefront.”

Originally published as Meta, parent company of Facebook and Instagram, reaches $50m settlement with OAIC over Cambridge Analytica scandal