On Friday, a federal judge gave final approval to a $ 650 million Facebook class action privacy agreement and ordered 1.6 million class members in Illinois to file claims to be paid “as soon as possible “.
Chicago attorney Jay Edelson sued Facebook at the Cook County Circuit Court in 2015, claiming that the use of the facial recognition marking platform was not permitted under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. The lawsuit claimed that Facebook’s Tag Suggestions tool, which scanned faces in users ‘photos and offered suggestions about who the person might be, stored biometric data without users’ consent, in violation of Illinois law.
The case became a collective action in 2018. In 2019, Facebook performed facial recognition only on the opt-in platform.
The three plaintiffs named in the lawsuit will each receive $ 5,000 and the others in the class will each receive at least $ 345 each, according to the order of Judge James Donato of the Northern California District. Donato said the deal was a “historic outcome” and a “major victory for consumers in the highly contested area of digital privacy”.
“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,” said Facebook in a statement.
“It’s a big deal,” said Edelson The Chicago Tribune. “It sends a very clear message that, in Illinois, biometric privacy rights are here to stay.”