Forbes Website Tracking Settlement: what it paid and what happens next

Forbes agreed to pay $10 million to resolve claims that trackers on its websites collected California visitors' IP addresses and other identifiers and shared them with third parties without consent, in violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act. Forbes denies any wrongdoing.

The case is Berman, et al. v. Forbes Media LLC (No. 3:24-cv-09287-WHO) in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.

A court-appointed administrator runs the claim process and sends the payments. SettleClub is not affiliated with the administrator or with Forbes.

All California residents who accessed websites owned or controlled by Forbes between December 20, 2023 and June 11, 2026 and had their IP address or unique identifiers shared with third parties through the trackers on those sites. Readers outside California are not covered.

The class period is Dec 20, 2023 to Jun 11, 2026. If your purchase, account or visit falls outside those dates, you are not part of this settlement even if everything else fits.

Class counsel estimates $32 to $189 per person from a fund of $10,000,000.

Treat the figure as a projection, not a promise. The settlement fund is split among everyone who files a valid claim, after attorneys' fees, administration costs and any service awards approved by the court. More claims means smaller checks; fewer claims means bigger ones.

No receipts or screenshots. You submit a Proof of Claim form confirming your California residency and website use. The payout range is class counsel's projection from the preliminary approval motion and is not stated on the settlement website itself; the final amount depends on how many valid claims are filed.

You sign the claim form under penalty of perjury, so only file if you genuinely fit the class definition above. That is the whole requirement.

Submit the Proof of Claim form online by November 9, 2026, or mail a paper form postmarked by that date. The opt-out and objection deadlines passed on September 24, 2026. The final approval hearing is December 2, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. PT in San Francisco.

Claims closed on Nov 9, 2026. If you filed, watch for a payment after the court's final approval. If you missed it, there is no late filing; the best move is to get on the list for the next one.

The court holds its final approval hearing on Dec 2, 2026. Payments go out after the judge approves the settlement and any appeals are resolved, which typically takes a few months.

Track this claim in SettleClub and you will get a reminder before the deadline and a nudge when payments start going out.