A federal judge has approved a $ 650 million settlement in a private lawsuit against Facebook alleging that the company used its face recognition feature without the user’s permission.
What happened: In 2015, Chicago attorney Jay Edelson filed a lawsuit against the court Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) in circuit court in Cook County. According to the lawsuit, Facebook violated the law to protect the biometric information about Illinois by not getting permission before using face recognition technology, which reports photos uploaded by users to digitally create and store faces, according to The Verge.
Along with the settlement amount, the judge also ordered that the 1.6 million members of the class action lawsuit in Illinois “be paid as soon as possible.”
Why it matters: According to the order of Judge James Donato of the Northern District of California, the three named plaintiffs will each receive $ 5,000 and others in the lawsuit at least $ 345 each, the report said.
Donato described the settlement as an “excellent result” and said it was “one of the largest settlements ever due to a breach of privacy.”
In a statement, Facebook said: “We are pleased to have reached a settlement so that we can move beyond this matter, which is in the best interests of our community and our shareholders.”
Facebook is not the only company running into Illinois law. Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) does not sell its robot dog, aibo, which has face recognition technology, in the state due to the law.
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