[smb] If your data was harvested through Facebook you could get £12,500 compensation, according to an expert. The social network has come under fire after it was revealed Cambridge Analytica kept users’ data.
This could cost Facebook £625 billion, which is double the £317b it is worth, law professor Maureen Mapp argued.
‘There are about 50 million users whose data was harvested,’ she told the Sun.
‘Assuming each one of them brought a claim for compensation for distress caused by the data breach…each individual may be awarded £12,500 as damages.’
But a more likely outcome is that users would receive a maximum of £500 each, according to data protection lawyer David Barda, who works for Slater and Gordon.
He added: ‘The amount of compensation will depend on the level of distress suffered, but Facebook could be facing claims of up to £500 per Facebook user if those users were able to demonstrate their distress.’
Obviously aware of the falling stock, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerburg took to his account to issue an apology, in which he promised that the company would put right their errors and “build a better service for the long term”.
“We have a responsibility to protect your data, and if we can’t then we don’t deserve to serve you, ” he wrote;
“I’ve been working to understand exactly what happened and how to make sure this doesn’t happen again. The good news is that the most important actions to prevent this from happening again today we have already taken years ago. But we also made mistakes, there’s more to do, and we need to step up and do it.
“I started Facebook, and at the end of the day I’m responsible for what happens on our platform. I’m serious about doing what it takes to protect our community.
“While this specific issue involving Cambridge Analytica should no longer happen with new apps today, that doesn’t change what happened in the past.
“We will learn from this experience to secure our platform further and make our community safer for everyone going forward. I want to thank all of you who continue to believe in our mission and work to build this community together.
“I know it takes longer to fix all these issues than we’d like, but I promise you we’ll work through this and build a better service over the long term.”
In order to get the cash users would have to prove they had suffered distress as a result of the data breach and it would fall under the Data Protection Act.
“The amount of compensation will depend on the level of distress suffered, but Facebook could be facing claims of up to £500 ($700) per Facebook user if those users were able to demonstrate their distress.”
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has apologised for the way user data was handled. Cambridge Analytica is currently being investigated UK Information Commissioner’s Office.
This content was originally published here.