The class action was initially filed in Illinois. After multiple requests by the plaintiffs to dismiss the lawsuit, it was brought to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. Eventually, the court certified the class action based on the Illinois suit. Facebook tried to appeal the case certification to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, but was rejected. Facebook finally agreed to settle the lawsuit and agree to pay nearly $550 million to those affected. In an effort to avoid having to pay such a high amount, the lawsuit’s class members agreed to accept a settlement of $650 million.
The lawsuit alleges that Facebook improperly used facial recognition software to tag photos without the users’ consent. When Facebook users were logged out, its system recommended tagging people with a name, even without their knowledge. This allowed snoopers and stalkers to track these people. The lawsuit is still being reviewed by the courts, but it’s already well underway. This lawsuit is just one of the many examples of how social networking websites can break the law.
The Illinois lawsuit aims to make Facebook pay 1.4 million people. The company is settling this case after a lawsuit arose over Facebook’s use of facial recognition technology to monitor its users’ online activity. The settlement is one of the largest in Facebook’s history, and it will set a precedent for future data privacy lawsuits. In Illinois, checks mailed to eligible users began to arrive on May 9.
