AARP lawsuit for members who accessed video and are on Facebook

[jserramcorder]

I received an email today that was in my spam but I believe it is valid, discussing AARP lawsuit for members who are on Facebook and accessed AARP videos.  Look in your spam, maybe you are getting this email as well.

Comes from  Markels et al v. AARP Settlement Administrator --there is a lot more to this email, I am just including the first part in case you need to investigate further.

Dear Class Member:

A Settlement has been reached with AARP in a class action lawsuit alleging that AARP violated the Video Privacy Protection Act (“VPPA”) by disclosing the identities and aarp.org video-viewing activity of certain members and registered users of aarp.org without lawful consent. The lawsuit contends that AARP transmitted this information to Meta Platforms, Inc. (“Meta”)— the owner of Facebook—through use of a tool called the Meta Pixel. 

AARP denies all of the allegations made in the lawsuit, denies that it violated the VPPA, and denies that AARP did anything improper or unlawful. The proposed Settlement is not an admission of liability or wrongdoing of any kind by AARP. The United States District Court for the Northern District of California approved this notice.

You might be a Settlement Class member. AARP’s records indicate that you were an AARP member or a registered user of AARP.org between September 27, 2020, and September 12, 2025, and accessed video content on AARP.org. To be eligible for payment, you must demonstrate that you also had a Facebook account when you accessed video content on AARP.org.

You can submit a claim to be paid from the Settlement using the claim form available here.

For more information and to review the full notice, please visit www.AARPSettlement.com.

[OneDayMatisyahu]

My Claim Form had been successfully submitted - Sunday 12/14/2025

Received a paper check  4-27-2026 for:  $96.56   CommerceWest Bank   Void After July 12, 2026

Also received $29.99 from 'other' Facebook Settlement as a virtual credit/ debit Mastercard last year..

😎  daddy needs a new pair of boat shoes.

[ Claim Deadline was  12/31/2025   - Claim Form deadline has passed.]

[JuliLG]

Can confirm I also rcvd $96.56 to my paypal account. A nice little surprise. I always opt in for class-action suits that I'm eligible for, but I usually get only $5. or so. I think I got about $35. from Facebook last year, this is by far the most ever. 

[SummerOnTheWay1]

[4/15/26] Congrats @JuliLG !!! 🎉 Lol, I expect Membership fees will be INCREASING.

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➡️[*** @JuliLG wrote:

Can confirm I also rcvd $96.56 to my paypal account. A nice little surprise. I always opt in for class-action suits that I'm eligible for, but I usually get only $5. or so. I think I got about $35. from Facebook last year, this is by far the most ever. 

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[bintmartin]

My renewal cost $20 this month. I was a bit surprised 

[JuliLG]

Yup, probably. Good thing I renewed for 5 years, at least my increase membership fee won't be too soon. 

[MarianF110290]

I got an email today saying I'm to receive $96 payment to my Venmo. But I've checked and it's not in my Venmo account. When I click on the link in the email that says "Accept payment, etc" the link offers one option: to sign up for a Venmo Business account. I don't want a business account and I don't see why it has to be paid this way.

[TheciaD162431]

Because they are treating it as 1099 income, so you have to declare it with your taxes. I would contact venmo, let them know it was due to class action settlement and see if they can accept it on your behalf without upgrading or if they have an alternative way to accept.

[bintmartin]

Same happened to me. After several tries I have up.  Never got the money either.

[HeatherF920921]

Mine went right into my checking account via Zelle!

[SummerOnTheWay1]

[4/14/26] @MarianF110290 , have you reached out to AARP? Or Venmo?

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➡️[*** @MarianF110290 wrote:

I got an email today saying I'm to receive $96 payment to my Venmo. But I've checked and it's not in my Venmo account. When I click on the link in the email that says "Accept payment, etc" the link offers one option: to sign up for a Venmo Business account. I don't want a business account and I don't see why it has to be paid this way.

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[d201425g]

II'm in the same boat - email from Venmo saying it's been paid but nothing in my Venmo account, though I didn't get an offer for a Business account. If someone has a way to contact Venmo or someone related to the suit, please share since the Venmo contact does not get you to a person and just tells you that it should be in your transactions

[SummerOnTheWay1]

[4/14/26] @d201425g , maybe call the AARP Customer Service and tell them what happened. Sounds like you guys "lost" your $96 to scammers. 😱 Hope not!!! 🤞

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➡️[*** @d201425g wrote:

II'm in the same boat - email from Venmo saying it's been paid but nothing in my Venmo account, though I didn't get an offer for a Business account. If someone has a way to contact Venmo or someone related to the suit, please share since the Venmo contact does not get you to a person and just tells you that it should be in your transactions

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[d201425g]

I ended up going to the Chat with us option in the Venmo app's settings. It was a painful process but eventually I did end up with the money in my account

[DavidW165044]

Can confirm this tactic works. Venmo needed to verify my email account. Once that was done, the settlement payment arrived. Thank you for sharing this helpful detail!

[SummerOnTheWay1]

[Monday 4/13/26]

Well @jserramcorder , looks like the payouts have started. I DONOT have Facebook so DIDNOT "apply".

[TheciaD162431]

You didn't need to have Facebook. It was what AARP shared with Facebook.

"If you were an AARP member or a registered user of the AARP website, you may be owed money.

The nonprofit organization has agreed to a $12.5 million settlement to resolve claims that it shared user information, including user identities and video-viewing activity, with Facebook."

[AA691669]

See here: https://www.claimdepot.com/settlements/aarp-settlement 

[joni5779]

I received this email too but it wasnt in my spam folder. But I researched and came to this AARP OnLine Community site.  So thank you all who posted and I feel confident now about the lawsuit

[SummerOnTheWay1]

[Monday 4/13/26]

@joni5779 , did you get your $96 payout? Apparently it started TODAY. Hope you did!!! 🤞 

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➡️[*** @joni5779 wrote 10/15/25:

I received this email too but it wasnt in my spam folder. But I researched and came to this AARP OnLine Community site.  So thank you all who posted and I feel confident now about the lawsuit

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[ClaireW215675]

I got an email from Venmo with bad formatting asking me to "Accept Money from Markels et al v. AARP Settlement." I didn't act at first and didn't see any updates on the AARP settlement FAQ site or from Venmo but was glad to see this forum. I clicked through - Venmo used MFA, but there is nothing there.  I'm still not certain I didn't get a phishing email from an entity knowing the payments were going out. 

[joni5779]

Hello,

Yes I did receive the $96 payout.  It is deposited in my PayPal account.

Thank you for organizing this lawsuit and the positive outcome.

[GailL1]

Seems since it is a “settlement” that somewhere on this vast AARP.org website they could at least mention it - But I guess that might increase the number of claims if more folks knew about it that were involved.  

[SanDiegoDoug]

Any business or company, that loses or settles a class action lawsuit, and then has to make a payout to the plaintiffs, will never notify the potential recipients regarding the legal settlement or receiving a payout.  That info is always released by the law firm that handles the case for the litigants, via general press releases to the public, and also via emails or mailed letters to the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, if their contact info is available to the law firm.

AARP already paid the full settlement amount of $12.5 million, for this case.  No matter how many people ultimately file a claim here, that will not change that total settlement amount paid by AARP.  The more eligible people that file a claim, just divides up the $12.5 million settlement funds into more (smaller) pieces, for each qualified recipient.

[kdubes83]

This was in my Junk folder also. Not sure if it's worth the effort to submit a claim.

[JanetY667522]

Hey today I was zelled $ 96 bucks and some change. Come on over for pizza and beer 😛😛.

[SummerOnTheWay1]

[4/13/26] @JanetY667522 , are you saying you got a payout from this AARP lawsuit?

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➡️[*** @JanetY667522 wrote:

Hey today I was zelled $ 96 bucks and some change. Come on over for pizza and beer 😛😛.

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[KimberlyM331282]

Yep, I sure am saying I received a $96.56 payout through Zelle from this lawsuit (Markels et al vs Aarp) today.

[MarianF110290]

My email says I have to get payment through Venmo. But not the Venmo I already have. It's trying to make me set up a Venmo business account to get it. I'm glad you got yours anyway. I've never heard of Zelle.

[GayleH347828]

Zelle is bank of America’s version of venmo/paypal.