Illinois Facebook Users Will Receive $350 From Settlement

Illinois Facebook users will be receiving roughly $350 from the landmark privacy case against the social media giant....
Illinois Facebook Users Will Receive $350 From Settlement
Written by Matt Milano

Illinois Facebook users will be receiving roughly $350 from the landmark privacy case against the social media giant.

In January 2020, Facebook tentatively agreed to a $550 million settlement in an Illinois class-action lawsuit over the state’s biometric privacy law, with the final amount reaching $650 million. The Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act prohibits private companies from collecting or using biometric data — such as facial recognition, voiceprint or fingerprint data — without written notification and written consent.

In the first true test of the law, the Illinois class-action suit against Facebook took the company to task for violating that law. Facebook uses biometric data in a number of ways, including using facial recognition for photo tagging recommendations.

According to the Chicago Tribune, some 1.6 million Illinois Facebook users will be receiving payments to the tune of $350 each. The payments were originally estimated to be closer to $400, but an additional 200,000 claims lowered the amount.

Either way, the settlement should serve as a warning to companies to do a better job of respecting their users’ privacy.

Subscribe for Updates

CybersecurityUpdate Newsletter

CybersecurityUpdate

By signing up for our newsletter you agree to receive content related to ientry.com / webpronews.com and our affiliate partners. For additional information refer to our terms of service.
Get the WebProNews newsletter delivered to your inbox

Get the free daily newsletter read by decision makers

Subscribe
Advertise with Us

Ready to get started?

Get our media kit