Forbes Media Privacy Settlement – $10 Million (California Only)
Forbes Media has agreed to pay $10 million to settle a class action alleging the company used third-party tracking tools on Forbes.com to collect and share visitors' IP addresses and unique identifiers without consent — in violation of California's Invasion of Privacy Act and Unfair Competition Law. An estimated 3.9 million unique California users may be covered.
Who Will Qualify?
Based on court filings, eligibility is expected to include:
- California residents who accessed Forbes-owned websites from December 20, 2023 through the date of preliminary approval
- Visitors whose IP addresses and/or unique identifiers were shared with third parties via LinkedIn and Microsoft trackers installed on Forbes.com
- Expected payout: $32 to $189 per claimant depending on total claims filed
Get Notified When Forbes Claims Open
California readers: sign up and we'll email you the moment the official claim portal goes live.
What Happened?
The lawsuit, Berman v. Forbes Media LLC, alleged Forbes installed third-party tracking tools developed by LinkedIn and Microsoft on Forbes.com that collected and transmitted visitors' IP addresses and other unique identifiers to those companies, which fed the data into large databases used to compile users' browsing and shopping habits across the internet — all without visitors' affirmative consent, in violation of California's Invasion of Privacy Act and Unfair Competition Law.
This is Forbes' second major privacy settlement in roughly a year; the company separately paid $7.5 million in 2025 over Meta Pixel tracking on its video pages, bringing its total tracker-related litigation payouts to $17.5 million. As part of this settlement, Forbes also agreed to give California visitors clearer notice of third-party trackers and more control over data sharing going forward.
This case is part of a much larger wave: more than 200 active lawsuits are currently pending nationwide under the same California privacy statute (CIPA Section 638.51) against website operators using similar tracking tools — Forbes is simply one of the largest and most recognizable names to settle so far.
What To Do Right Now
California readers who've visited Forbes.com since December 2023 should sign up for the email notification list above. The settlement administrator hasn't been named publicly yet — we'll update this page once the official claims site is confirmed live.
Last reviewed: June 21, 2026 | Information verified from court records and official settlement documents.