Meta's $18 B Settlement May Mostly Enrich Lawyers and Officials
Critics warn that the $18 billion Meta class-action payout could largely benefit attorneys and local officials, echoing past opioid and tobacco settlements where victims saw little benefit.
Following Meta’s historic $18 billion class-action settlement, observers draw parallels to previous large settlements that left victims with minimal compensation. In New Jersey, towns diverted at least $2.3 million from a 2021 opioid settlement into purchases such as a custom Mustang for Atlantic City police and $150,000 for a nonprofit in Camden to assess broken streetlights, while $53 million sits idle in municipal accounts.
Legal fees in the opioid case reached $2.3 billion, with Motley Rice alone taking $396 million and still appealing for more. The 1998 tobacco Master Settlement saw over $10 billion in attorney fees and state-level slush funds, and similar charity allocations occurred in a 2010 Google settlement. The article contends that Meta’s payout, intended for addiction prevention and youth protection, is vulnerable to the same pattern of enrichment for lawyers and political allies, leaving the actual victims largely unrewarded.
Why it matters
It shows how massive settlements can be siphoned away from victims, raising concerns about accountability in class-action lawsuits.
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