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07th Apr 2018

This is how much money you could get if you were affected by Facebook’s data breach

We wouldn't mind that sum in our bank account.

Olivia Hayes

We wouldn’t mind that sum in our bank account.

Facebook announced this week that more than nearly  45,000 people in Ireland were affected by the recent data breach.

Late last month, an undercover investigation by Channel 4 News accused the British data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica of secretly campaigning in elections across the world.

Facebook said: “We do know that 15 people in Ireland installed thisisyourdigitallife, and up to 44,687 people in Ireland may have been friends with someone who installed the app, and, therefore, may have been affected.”

And now, Professor of Law, Maureen Mapp told Money Control that anyone who has been breached could be entitled to thousand of Euro in compensation.

She said: “Assuming each one of them brought a claim for compensation for distress caused by the data breach…each individual may be awarded £12,500 (approx. €14,320) as damages.”

You will be able to find out if you were breached on Monday, and if you were you can then take matters further.

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Facebook published this week, explaining that beginning on Monday, April 9, there would be a new link at the top of everyone’s News Feed.

Following the link will let users of the social media platform see what apps they used, as well as what kind of information they have shared with those apps and a way to remove those that they no longer want.