Meta Signs $37.5 Million Deal Over Facebook Location Tracking

Meta Platforms signed a $37.5 million class settlement with Facebook users who say the platform continued tracking their locations after they turned off location services on their devices, according to a filing in San Francisco federal court. The settlement by the US District Court for the Northern District of California covered about 70 million US residents who used Facebook between Jan. 30, 2015 and April 18, 2018 and who turned off the location services setting for the Facebook application on their iOS or Android devices. Class members who submit claims through an online system will receive payments electronically or by check. The deal resolves litigation accusing the tech giant of improperly collecting users’ IP addresses and using those addresses to infer their location in contravention of the company’s own policies. Plaintiffs say Facebook profited from this information by using it to target ads.