Image: INQUIRER.net Stock Photo
iPhone users who have used certain apps such as Twitter, Yelp and others between 2009 and 2012 could be getting a small cash back from the settlement of the app privacy lawsuit concerning the misuse of the “Find Friends” feature on iOS.
Foodspotting, Foursquare, Gowalla, Instagram, Kik, Path, Twitter and Yelp will be contributing a total of $5.3 million as payment to customers based on the terms of settlement, according to Fortune.
The amount will be seeded to customers through Amazon credits or by check. The payments are expected to be processed late this year.
“Find Friends” allows users to see who among their contacts are also using certain apps. However, app makers violated user privacy by failing to inform them that user contact lists are being transferred to company servers.
Despite the large amount being pooled together by these eight companies, it is likely that users eligible for the settlement money will only get a few dollars due to the sheer number of users who downloaded the aforementioned apps.
Either way, eligible users will receive an email from the app makers. In Twitter’s case, users will be prompted by a tweet with a ”@settlementnews” handle. Alfred Bayle/JB