A federal judge approved a $ 650 million settlement in a collective privacy lawsuit against Facebook that alleged that the company used its facial recognition feature without user consent.
What happened: In 2015, Chicago attorney Jay Edelson filed a lawsuit against Facebook, Inc (NASDAQ: FB) at Cook County Court. According to the lawsuit, Facebook violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act by failing to obtain consent before using facial recognition technology, which scans photos sent by users to create and store faces digitally, The Verge reported.
Along with the value of the settlement, the judge also ordered 1.6 million members of the class action lawsuit in Illinois to be paid “as soon as possible”.
Why does it matter: According to the order of Judge James Donato of the Northern District of California, the three named plaintiffs will each receive $ 5,000 and the others in the class action will each receive at least $ 345 each, the report said.
Donato described the agreement as a “historic outcome” and said that “it is one of the biggest privacy breach agreements.”
In a statement, Facebook said: “We are pleased to have reached an agreement so that we can go beyond this issue, which is in the best interest of our community and our shareholders.”
Facebook is not the only company to break Illinois law. Sony Corp (NYSE: SNE) does not sell its robot dog, aibo, which has facial recognition technology, in the state because of the law.
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