Chicago, Ill. (January 30, 2020) - In a
significant development in the ever-expanding universe of Illinois
Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) litigation, on January 29,
2020, Facebook agreed to pay $550 million to settle a BIPA class
action that was filed in the Northern District of
California.
The plaintiffs in that case, In re Facebook Biometric
Information Privacy Litigation, alleged that Facebook's
tag suggestion feature violated BIPA by using facial recognition
without users' consent. The settlement also requires Facebook
to secure Illinois users' explicit consent before collecting
biometric information, as defined in the statute.
The class action settlement, which is pending court approval, is
the largest of its kind. According to counsel for the plaintiffs,
if approval is granted, it will be the largest cash settlement ever
to resolve a privacy-related lawsuit.
