GET £12 K COMPO!
Brits to claim a fortune
MILLIONS of people could be in line for a £12,500 compo payout from Facebook over a data-harvesting scandal.
A top-flight lawyer has warned the social media giant they could face a £625billion bill over possible breaches of the Data Protection Act.
Maureen Mapp said that 50million users who had information harvested by Cambridge Analytica could claim damages.
The firm secretly collected millions of profiles to use in political campaigns, building up pictures of possible voters to target with campaign adverts.
Dr Mapp said: “There are about 50m users whose data was harvested. Assuming each brought a claim for compensation for distress caused by the data breach... each individual may be awarded £12,500 as damages.”
But other legal advisors have warned that any payouts would be for relatively small sums of cash.
David Barda, a data protection lawyer for Slater and Gordon, said: “I think a much more realistic figure is £500 per claimant.
“The amount of compensation will depend on the level of distress suffered.”
Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg took out full-page adverts to apologise.
He wrote: “We have a responsibility to protect your information. If we can’t, we don’t deserve it.
“This was a breach of trust and I’m sorry we didn’t do more at the time.”
Billions have been shaved off the company’s share price in the aftermath of the revelations