Thousands of Facebook users are receiving $15 cheques from the social media giant after a lawsuit found it had used the faces and names of people in 'Sponsored Story' ads without their consent.
An estimated 614,000 Facebook members had their faces and names used in the now removed Sponsored Story ads, which, if you're anything like us and totally forgot what they were, were ads that appeared on your news feed and looked like a regular status update, but were actually paid for ads under the guise of the poor souls who had their info used. So, that free $15 cheque doesn't seem quite so great now, does it?
Users are taking to Twitter to post pictures of their cheques which range from delight to bemusement:
The lawsuit was settled at an estimated $20 million, where $9 million of that was authorised to be divided amongst the Sponsored Story victims, hence why some users are receiving cheques from Facebook. Unfortunately you can only be eligible for the 15 bucks (enough for a sarnie and a latte in Pret, probably) if you filed to join the class action before May 2 2013 (and your face was used, obvs), so if you were hoping for a cheeky advance on your last few days before payday, you might have to investigate alternative options.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.