Checks Rolling Out In Illinois After Facebook Privacy Lawsuit

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Breaking News More () » Money Illinois Facebook users receiving payouts for class-action lawsuit over facial recognition Checks are rolling out to class members in a 2020 lawsuit against Facebook for illegal use of facial recognition software.

Author: Connor Day Published: 11:50 AM CDT May 16, 2022 Updated: 12:50 PM CDT May 16, 2022

ILLINOIS, USA — Payments are rolling out in the settlement of a 2020 lawsuit against Facebook, now Meta, over its use of facial recognition technology that violated an Illinois privacy law.

In an update posted to an official website for the lawsuit, it was announced that beginning May 9, payments estimated at $200-400 would begin rolling out to plaintiffs in the suit.

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Officials said that if you are expecting a payment and do not receive one within two weeks of May 9, wait until mid-June to make an inquiry.

The $650 million settlement was approved by a U.S. District Judge in February 2021, after the 2020 suit accused Facebook of using users' facial recognition data and other biometrics without their consent, specifically citing the company had failed to get permission before scanning and storing faces in users' photos through a "photo tagging" feature that has since been removed.

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The lawsuit was made possible by Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act, which allows consumers to sue companies for harvesting biometric data without permission.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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