You may have received an email describing that Facebook is the subject of a class action lawsuit over Sponsored Stories permissions. Like all mass emails regarding a lawsuit against a major company, this email provides you with several options, and listing yourself as a complainant might get you a little bit of money. In the case of the latest Facebook lawsuit, all of the complainants will be entitled to a sum of … $10.

Business Insider reports that Facebook got caught red-handed uses people’s likenesses without express permission for Sponsored Stories. If you’re a Facebook user whose likeness has been used in this regard, you can claim a piece of a $20 million pie, but because so many people’s likenesses were used without permission, that pie divides up into the price of lunch tomorrow afternoon if you elect to participate.

The class action lawsuit alleged that Facebook didn’t have the legal right to use members’ likenesses in Sponsored Stories Posts. Buzzfeed reports that while Facebook obviously disagreed, they decided to settle out of court for the sum of $20 million rather than risk litigation.

If you’re eligible, you will have received an email titled “LEGAL NOTICE OF SETTLEMENT OF CLASS ACTION” written in dense legal jargon. Twitter is full of Facebook users wondering if the email is legit:

Is this for real? Just got an email notice of a Facebook Class Action settlement? twitter.com/geekgiant/stat…

— Eric Berto (@geekgiant) January 26, 2013

Indeed, it is! You can file a claim form here (it takes five minutes) and then wait for your check, which will be sent out after June.

There is one caveat, but it’s a biggie: “If the number of claims made renders it economically infeasible to pay money to persons who make a timely and valid claim, payment will be made to the not-for-profit organizations identified on the Settlement website at www.fraleyfacebooksettlement.com.”

Did you get an email about Facebook’s class action lawsuit? Did you file a claim for your $10?

Facebook Lawsuit: You Might Stand To Get … $10 is a post from: The Inquisitr

US District Judge Richard Seeborg has rejected a proposed settlement in Facebook’s violation of member rights and California law. The company was sued for improperly obtaining and using user information as part of its sponsored stories advertisements.

Judge Seeborg rejected the lawsuit because the company didn’t provide a better answer to previous questions about why no cash was awarded to class members.

In a statement regarding the rejection Facebook said:

“We continue to believe the settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate. We appreciate the court’s guidance and look forward to addressing the questions raised in the order.”

The lawsuit included $20 million for lawyers and charities. Lawyers claim that the true value of the lawsuit thanks to Facebook privacy changes is closer to $123 million.

If you are unfamiliar with FacebookSponsored Stories they were advertisements that would appear on a friends page when someone liked an advertiser. For example if your friend liked the page for Nike you might see a Nike ad with your friends photo and name next to a Nike ad via your personal Facebook page.

Following the settlement Facebook was forced to review its terms of service, allowing users to choose what if any personal information can be used in Sponsored Stories while also choosing to opt-out completely.

$10 million from the settlement will be paid to 15 different charities that advocate privacy.

The two sides were not able to come up with a suitable algorithm to determine the settlement value and ultimately settled on a number both side believed was fair.

Judge Rejects Facebook ‘Sponsored Stories’ Settlement is a post from: The Inquisitr

Facebook has agreed to settle a “sponsored stories” lawsuit over its “Like” platform by agreeing to a $10 million one-time payment.

The lawsuit was filed after Facebook began to retransmit users’ activities to their friends’ pages using the “sponsored stories” ad platform. If a user clicked on a “like” button for a brand their likes could appear as a “sponsored story” on their friends’ pages.

Facebook began the sponsored stories service in 2011 and at the time of the first lawsuits the company argued that plaintiffs were not hurt by the practice. Users on the other hand said their personal information was used for commercial purposes without their permission.

Last week court documents pointed to a settlement which was finally confirmed by Facebook attorney Michael Rhodes on Sunday. The settlement will be given to charity after a judge approved the final amount.

U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh wrote:

“California has long recognized a right to protect one’s name and likeness against appropriation by others for their advantage.”

Facebook may have dodged a bullet in regards to this case, if a class-action lawsuit was allowed to move forward at full speed some analysts believed the lawsuit could have ended up costing the company billions of dollars, especially if one in three American’s became entitled to the money.

The hit to Facebook shouldn’t be understated, Mark Zuckerberg has called “trusted referral” advertising the “Holy Grail” of the advertising relationship while Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg has been quoted as saying “Sponsored Story” advertising is two times to three times more effective than traditional advertisements.

Facebook Settles Sponsored Post “Like” Lawsuit For $10 Million is a post from: The Inquisitr

Dear Facebook: If you’re checking cheddar off my liking of Kerrygold, Nutella and Cadbury Creme Eggs in promoting them to my friends, I should at least get a cut. -Kim

From the files of “I cannot believe this took so long,” Facebook is going to start using your “likes” and check-ins to display “Sponsored Stories” to your flist in their sidebar from time to time. Each double-foam skinny half caf Caramel Soy Macchiato, Iced you share with your friends could represent a money-making opportunity for the social networking behemoth, announcing your preferences in a kind of mini-endorsement way.

While the stories will be clearly marked as “sponsored,” they will also have a higher propensity to be repeated to friends than plain old status updates- a tidbit you should keep in mind when sharing info that tags or mentions a brand likely to participate in the campaigns. If you couldn’t turn down a nosy co-workers friend request and said co-worker continually sees an old update about you dilly-dallying at Chipotle, that might not be very professionally advantageous, for instance.

Still, as far as privacy concerns and Facebook go, this isn’t all that egregious. If you’re the type that shares and draws information from your peers on services like Facebook, it can also provide a point of interest or better awareness of brands and services the people you tend to connect to share an affinity for. Jim Squires of Facebook’s marketing team commented on the service’s value to businesses:

“Currently, marketers don’t have the ability to know or plan word-of-mouth endorsements as part of their campaigns,” Mr. Squires said. “This gives a way for marketers to increase the visibility of stories about their organization… “this is word-of-mouth marketing at scale.”

Also notable is that the “Sponsored Stories” don’t filter for less than glowing feedback. So if you moan about ice-cold fries at your local McDonald’s, that information could be continuously posted to friends’ sidebars. Among companies that have already tested the program are Coca-Cola, Unicef and Levi’s.

Do you think you’re more likely to purchase or utilize a brand or service based on Facebook chatter?

Facebook to cash in on your likes and check-ins is a post from: The Inquisitr