United States: Facebook to pay US $ 650 million in privacy breach lawsuit

WASHINGTON.- US Federal Judge Orders Facebook To Pay $ 650 Million To Resolve Privacy Dispute between the social media giant and 1.6 million users in the state of Illinois.

Chicago lawyer Jay Edelson Facebook sued in 2015, after alleging that the social network illegally collected biometric data to identify faces, violating a 2008 Illinois privacy law.

The legal measure became a class action in 2018. In January 2020, Facebook agreed to pay $ 550 million after failing to dismiss the lawsuit in court. Six months later, the magistrate responsible for the case, James Donato, ruled that the amount was insufficient..

During the trial, Facebook has been shown to break Illinois law by storing biometric data – digital scans of people’s faces, through its face tagging feature – without users’ consent.

In 2019, Facebook proposed that the facial recognition feature be optional only.

According to Donato, the decision is “momentous” and represents a “major victory for consumers in the controversial area of ​​digital privacy”. “This is one of the biggest deals ever for breach of privacy,” he said, noting that the plaintiffs will each receive at least $ 345 in compensation.

So far, Facebook has not released any statement in this regard.

Agencia AFP

THE NATION

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