A social media data breach can have significant, long-term implications and severe emotional distress for those affected. Often, these breaches compromise personal data, sometimes resulting in targeted phishing attacks, decreased user trust and financial losses if time is needed off work to recover from the stress. Moreover, being the victim of this type of breach can feel really isolating, especially if you lose access to a social media account with connections such as long-term friends and family members.
You could claim social media data breach compensation if we can show that a social networking company failed to follow data protection laws when handling, storing or otherwise processing your data. Additionally, we must show that the breach caused financial or psychological damage; typically, suffering a data breach can result in both. With our panel of specialist data breach solicitors, you would have endless support through your case. Whether this be helping connect you with recovery specialists such as counsellors, or ensuring to negotiate a settlement that reflects the full extent of harm you’ve suffered, our panel will fight tirelessly for you.
Our advisors can provide you with a consultation where they will listen, assess the facts of your situation and explain your options honestly and clearly. If your claim seems eligible, they can then connect you with one of the expert solicitors from our panel, who can then handle the entire claims process on your behalf; allowing you the time, space and access to resources needed to assist in your recovery.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- What Is A Social Media Data Breach?
- Can I Claim For A Data Breach On Social Media?
- Examples Of A Social Media Data Breach
- What Should I Do After A Social Media Data Breach?
- How Much Compensation Could I Get After A Social Media Data Breach?
- No Win No Fee Solicitors – Why Use Them?
- Read More About Claiming For A Social Media Data Breach
What Is A Social Media Data Breach?
A social media data breach occurs if an unauthorised party gains access, exposes or steals information from a social media platform. These types of breaches typically expose social media users’ sensitive information including their usernames, phone numbers, passwords, home address or even email addresses. Moreover, this can also lead to a breach of someone’s bank details, biometric data and even philosophical beliefs.
In a data breach claim, there are two types of data which can be compromised and breached. Article 4 of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) defines the first category as personal data which is any information relating to an identifiable natural person (a data subject). This can include information such as:
- Your name and date of birth
- Location information
- Phone numbers, identity numbers
- Email and postal addresses
- Your social media username or password
The second category of data is referred to as special category data. This information requires additional protections due to the sensitive nature of this data. It can include:
- Genetic information
- Racial or ethnic origin
- Data regarding someone’s religious or philosophical beliefs
- Biometric data
- Data concerning health
- Sexual orientation
- Political opinions
If any of this data is accessed by an unauthorised person, you could have the grounds to make a social media data breach claim. Read on to learn whether you’d have merit to make your own claim.
What Are The 5 Most Popular Social Media Platforms?
Below, we’ve provided a table of the most popular social media platforms. Please be aware these figures are estimates only for Q4, 2025.
| UK Popularity | Social Network Platform |
|---|---|
| 83% | |
| 80% | YouTube |
| 58% | |
| 50% | |
| 49% | iMessage |
(Source: https://yougov.co.uk/ratings/technology/popularity/social-networks/all)
Can I Claim For A Data Breach On Social Media?
Yes, you could claim for a social media data breach if it can be shown that your information was wrongfully compromised due to a social media company’s failure to adhere to data protection laws.
As we discussed above, a personal data breach is the breach of security leading to the accidental or unlawful loss, destruction, alteration, unauthorised disclosure or access to personal data. A personal data breach impacts the availability, integrity or confidentiality of a data subject’s personal information.
Before we can explore the eligibility criteria needed to be able to make a social media data breach claim, we must define three relevant roles within data handling:
- The data subject: a living, identifiable individual to whom the data is related.
- The data controller: an organisation or party responsible for the processing of a data subject’s personal information.
- The data processor: usually an external company or party responsible for the handling, storage and processing of your data. This can sometimes be the same person as the data controller.
What Needs To Be Proven To Have An Eligible Social Media Data Breach Claim?
So, with the above information, in order to show that you would be eligible to make a claim, we must demonstrate that:
- A data controller or processor failed to uphold, adhere and act in compliance with data protection legislation (for example if they have inadequate cyber security measures).
- Your personal data was accessed by an unauthorised third party or otherwise compromised, such as by being lost or destroyed.
- This led to you suffering psychiatric and/or financial loss.
First, we must explore the legislation that governs data protection within the UK. All organisations, including social media companies, must ensure that they act in accordance with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018.
Businesses must do so in the handling, processing and storage of your data. These laws are a fundamental framework for data protection, and every company is required to comply with and uphold these principles.
However, if a social media company can prove they processed your data in line with legislation, not every breach will mean that a claim is possible. You can get in touch with our advisors for a free consultation today to explore whether you’d be eligible to make a claim.
Examples Of A Social Media Data Breach
Social media data breaches can occur in a number of ways, including accidentally through human error and maliciously through criminal activity. If a social media company stores some data in paper files, these can also be breached. These sorts of breaches can happen if:
- A company has poor cybersecurity measures, leading to hackers being able to access the firewall of a social networking site. As a result, cyber criminals are able to take personal data of the network users, which they then disclose to other platform users.
- When a company is marketing a new product, a staff member from the company fails to notice that they have taken a photo with a customer’s address in the background. They go on to post this image, and the customer’s address is leaked, leading to increased anxiety levels and a breakdown of trust in the company.
- Instead of hacking a social media company’s infrastructure, a hacker is able to phish a lower-level employee with access to internal support tools for the site. With access to the employee’s credentials, the hacker is able to gain control of the platform’s infrastructure, and thus all users’ personal data.
- A drive with the users’ personal data is not kept secure and password-protected. An unauthorised person was able to access the data.
These are only a few of the ways in which a social media data breach can occur, so if you’d like to talk about the circumstances of your own experience, please contact our advisors today.
What Should I Do After A Social Media Data Breach?
After a social media data breach, you may be wondering what to do. You should receive confirmation of this breach within an appropriate timeframe from the social media company; this could be a notification email or letter.
Moreover, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), an independent organisation responsible for upholding and governing data protection within the UK must be notified of a reportable data breach within 72 hours of this breach.
However, if you’ve not been notified by email or letter, there are still a few steps that can be taken after you suffer a social media data breach. You can:
- Ask the social media company for more information directly, regarding the breach
- Get in touch with the ICO if the organisation’s response is unsatisfactory and report the data breach (you have up to 3 months following the last meaningful communication with them to do so)
- When possible, change your passwords for the affected social media account. Additionally, if this same password is reused for multiple accounts or across other social media sites, make sure to change this password.
- Enable 2 factor authentication on all sensitive social media accounts. This adds another layer of security and protection
- Collect evidence where possible. This can include a notification email, or letter confirming the breach.
Additionally, we would recommend getting in touch with a specialist data breach solicitor, such as one from our panel, at the earliest opportunity. Data breach cases are typically subjected to a time limit, to prevent them from being brought indefinitely. If you want to claim, it is best to get started as soon as possible. Furthermore, an experienced solicitor can help ensure that your data is protected.
Get in touch with our advisors for more information about what you can do after experiencing a social media data breach.
How Much Compensation Could I Get After A Social Media Data Breach?
After a social media data breach, you could pursue compensation for two types of damage. These are commonly referred to as material damage and non-material damage.
Financial losses incurred as a result of the social media data breach are referred to as material damage in your claim. We discuss claiming for your financial hardships in further detail in our section below. Any type of harm to your mental health is referred to as ‘non-material damage’ in your data breach claim. You can be compensated for either type of harm or both.
Moreover, in order to explore how much compensation you could receive in a successful claim, we can consider how your claim would be valued.
Professionals can refer to frameworks such as the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) when calculating an estimate of your compensation. The JCG is a document offering suggestive brackets of compensation for certain types of harm and severities.
We have provided a table below with brackets taken from the JCG for both Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and psychological damage. Please be aware that these are guidelines only, and the top entry has not been taken from the JCG.
| Harm | Severity | Compensation Guideline |
|---|---|---|
| Serious Psychiatric Damage paired with Material Damage | Debilitating psychological damage and material damage such as relocation costs, lost earnings and medical costs | Up to £500,000+ |
| Psychiatric Harm Generally | Severe (a) when professionals are valuing those injured, they will take into consideration the person's capability to cope with life, work and education | £66,920 to £141,240 |
| Moderately Severe (b) slightly more optimistic prognosis than above | £23,270 - £66,920 | |
| Moderate (c) better prognosis than above | £7,150 to £23,270 | |
| Less Severe (d) the extent of disability and whether daily activities and sleep were impacted will be considered when valuing the award | £1,880 to £7,150 | |
| PTSD | Severe (a) impacts are that vast that the injured person is unable to function as they were prior to the PTSD | £73,050 to £122,850 |
| Moderately Severe (b) some improvement and recovery with medical/professional help and more optimistic prognosis than above | £28,250 to £73,050 | |
| Moderate (c) no grossly disabling effects and the injured person will have largely recovered | £9,980 to £28,250 | |
| Less Severe (d) a virtual full recovery made within 1-2 years and only minor persisting symptoms | £4,820 to £9,980 |
What Other Damage Could You Receive After Claiming For A Social Media Data Breach?
You could also receive compensation for your material damage within your social media data breach settlement. As we briefly discussed above, material damage is the economic losses incurred after experiencing a social media data breach.
Your settlement can reimburse you for financial losses including:
- A loss of earnings if you’ve taken time off work due to the impact of the social media data breach
- Any associated costs of home security
- Medical expenses including therapy or counselling costs
- Relocation costs if you’ve had to move address after the data breach out of fear for your safety
In order to receive compensation for your material damage, you will need documents that prove these financial losses. This could usually include bank statements, invoices for medical expenses and payslips to show a loss in earnings.
A solicitor from our panel could help you compile these documents, so you needn’t worry. Contact our advisors for further information about material damage and what items could be reimbursed.
We Can Help With Your Claim
Our team of specialist advisors are ready to assist you with your data breach claim
No Win No Fee Solicitors – Why Use Them?
Our panel of No Win No Fee solicitors here at Data Breach Claims have decades of experience supporting clients nationwide. By offering their services on a No Win No Fee basis, you wouldn’t be faced with any upfront payments towards their work. Moreover, our panel uses a contract called a Conditional Fee Agreement to provide these services.
Under this type of agreement, not only would you not be required to pay solicitors’ fees upfront, but you wouldn’t be faced with ongoing solicitors’ fees during the progression of your claim. Arguably most vitally, claiming on a No Win No Fee basis means you’d have nothing to pay towards the work of a solicitor from our panel if your claim turns out to be unsuccessful.
On the reverse side, if your claim was successful then a pre-agreed percentage would be taken from your compensation. This is our panel’s success fee, and is limited in line with the Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013, so you know exactly what percentage you would receive upon a successful social media data breach claim.
In addition to the benefits that come with claiming on a No Win No Fee basis, the services on offer from our panel include:
- Simple explanations of the data breach claims process
- Handling all legal complexities on your behalf, including correspondence with the relevant parties and courts
- Help with gathering documents to build a strong body of evidence
- Regular contact regarding the progress of your case
- Fighting on your behalf to achieve a settlement that reflects the financial and psychological harm caused
Get in touch with our advisors to learn more about how our solicitors can help you seek much needed compensation today.
Contact Our Team
For a free case consultation, you can reach our advisory team by:
- Calling us on 020 8050 6279
- Contacting us online
- Speaking to an advisor using the live chat
Read More About Claiming For A Social Media Data Breach
Why not read our other guides about:
- How to make a private company data breach claim
- What if your password has been part of a data breach?
- University data breach claims
Helpful External Resources
- How to make a complaint to the ICO
- Guidance from the National Cyber Security Centre
- NHS information on mental health
Thank you for reading our social media data breach claims guide.