Facebook Settles Privacy Lawsuit for $650 Million

Facebook Privacy

Back in July of 2020, Facebook offered $650 million to settle a privacy lawsuit, filed under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, which alleged that the company used facial recognition features without their users' consent. This settlement was finally approved about seven months later: The Chicago Tribune reported:

The Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act is among the strictest such laws in the U.S., and requires companies to get permission before using technologies such as facial recognition to identify customers.

[…]

Out of the $650 million Facebook agreed to pay, Donato awarded $97.5 million in attorneys’ fees and about $915,000 in expenses. The court also awarded $5,000 to each of the three named plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The rest is to be distributed to all class members equally.

Around this same time, TikTok settled a very similar lawsuit (also filed under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act) for $92 million.

Sources / Relevant Material

  1. Reuters "Facebook raises settlement to $650 million in facial recognition lawsuit" by Reuters Staff (31 Jul 2020)
  2. Chicago Tribune "Facebook privacy settlement approved: Nearly 1.6 million Illinois users will ‘expeditiously’ get at least $345" by Robert Channick (26 Feb 2021)
  3. twitter.com/mewe/status/1366580116575293442