AT&T agrees to $177M settlement over data breaches: What to know
Two lawsuits were brought against AT&T, both regarding data breaches. According to court documents, a federal judge in Texas has given preliminary approval for two settlement funds for the breaches: one totaling $149 million, the other $28 million.
In March of last year, AT&T confirmed that a dataset found on the 'dark web' contained information such as Social Security numbers for about 7.6 million current AT&T account holders and 65.4 million former account holders. That breach began in 2019, CNET reported. Then in July, the company said the data of nearly all customers was downloaded to a third-party platform in a 2022 security breach.
'While we deny the allegations in these lawsuits that we were responsible for these criminal acts, we have agreed to this settlement to avoid the expense and uncertainty of protracted litigation,' AT&T told Nexstar via email. 'We remain committed to protecting our customers' data and ensuring their continued trust in us.'
While you, as a current or former customer, may be included in the settlements, you'll also need to prove that you suffered damages because of the breaches.
Citing court documents, USA Today and CNET report that the highest payments for those impacted by the first breach are $5,000. For the second breach, the top payment is $2,500. Remaining funds would then be distributed to others who were impacted.
A settlement website is set to be established in early August, which is when you're likely to be notified of your potential qualification for payment. Those impacted are expected to be notified via email or postcard, court documents show.
The deadline to opt out or object to the settlements, according to court documents, will be October 17, 2025. The deadline to file a claim is set for November 18, 2025.
A final approval hearing in the case has been set for December 3, 2025. It will still take some time after that date for settlement payments to be dispersed, but a spokesperson for AT&T told Nexstar that payments are expected to be issued early next year.
This marks one of the larger announced settlements within the last year. Others include a $95 million settlement reached with Apple over allegations that its virtual assistant, Siri, was snooping on users, and a $100 million settlement with Walgreens over allegations that the pharmacy chain overcharged for generic drugs.
The Federal Trade Commission recently announced that it would be sending out nearly 970,000 payments totaling over $126 million — with an average refund of about $130 — following allegations that Fortnite duped young players into making unwanted purchases.
Those who purchased a video game from the GameStop website between August 18, 2020, and April 17 of this year have until August 15 to submit a settlement claim in a class action lawsuit filed in New York. The suit alleges that GameStop shared customers' information to Facebook without consent. Nexstar's WPIX reports the settlement fund totals $4.5 million.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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