More than a million Illinois residents will receive a $397 settlement payment from Facebook this week, thanks to a lawsuit over the platform’s now-defunct photo-tagging system, which used facial recognition. It has been nearly seven years since the 2015 class action lawsuit was first filed, accusing Facebook of a state data protection law which prohibits companies from collecting biometric data without informing users. The platform has since become a broad, global criticism for using facial recognition technology, and last year Meta stopped the work out completely on Facebook and Instagram. but vox Remarksthe company hasn’t made any commitments to avoid facial recognition in future products.
Although first filed in Illinois, the class action lawsuit eventually ended up in Facebook’s home country – in the US District Court for Northern California. Nonetheless, the court repeatedly denied the platform’s numerous motions to dismiss the lawsuit, eventually upholding the class action lawsuit in Illinois. Facebook attempted to appeal the case certification to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, but was successful rejected. After Facebook initially agreed to settle the $550 million lawsuit — which was the largest payout in an online privacy class action at the time — a federal judge ruled defended himself and said the amount was too small. Finally, the company over the past year I Agree for a settlement of $650 million.
The problem was the old one from Facebook Photo tagging system, which relied on facial recognition to recognize users in photos and videos. Attorneys representing Illinois residents argued that the platform’s “Suggested Tags” feature violated the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act. Any Facebook user in Illinois who posted a photo of themselves or was tagged on the platform during a specified period was eligible make a claim. A total of nearly 1.6 million Illinois residents were included in the comparison.
A number of Redditors reported receiving their settlement checks via direct deposit or in the mail this week, although not all have received their payment yet. “I made mine and my wife’s at the same time and got one yesterday and the other today. That was through cell.” written down a user on Reddit.
Some who have opted to receive a check in the mail have been a little put off by its unassuming appearance. “To be honest, I almost threw mine away. It was mailed in a brown, recycled envelope. Feels like a paper bag. I was sure it was junk mail.” called a user on Reddit.
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