Facebook Privacy Class Action Lawsuit Settles for $550M

Facebook has reached a $550 million settlement with consumers who claim that the social media giant violated Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act by using facial recognition on users’ photos without their consent.

If approved, this settlement will end five years of back and forth regarding the Facebook BIPA class action lawsuit, including an attempt to take it to the Supreme Court. 

Noting the importance for the case, the consumers’ lawyers explained that “biometrics is one of the two primary battlegrounds…that will define our privacy rights for the next generation.”

For Facebook, the issue has become an important one, notes Bloomberg. According to Bloomberg, settling the BIPA class action lawsuit likely allowed Facebook to escape significant risk.

If the claims had gone to trial and consumers had been successful, Facebook likely would have had to pay billions of dollars in damages. This high potential cost comes from a BIPA provision that allows parties to seek $1,000 in damages for each negligent violation of the law and up to $5,000 for each reckless or intentional violation of the law.

Reportedly, Facebook has faced an increase in its administrative and legal expenses in the last quarter, to the tune of 87 percent. The $550 million BIPA Facebook tagging class action settlement was one part of that.

Though the $550 million settlement is record-setting for its amount, it represents less of a financial hit for Facebook. The Chicago Tribune estimates that Class Members — Illinois Facebook users — could receive a couple of hundred dollars each.

More specific information about who may be eligible for benefits is not yet available, nor is specific information available about the amount of compensation Class Members could receive.

However, the Chicago Tribute does say that the amount given to each Class Member will depend on how many people file valid claims. The Class could include around to 6 million Illinois Facebook users.

Facebook has made several attempts to fight the BIPA class action lawsuit, going so far as to ask for the claims to be heard before the United States Supreme Court.

Facebook had requested that the BIPA class action lawsuit be heard before the Supreme Court because the company had argued that the Ninth Circuit erred in reaffirming a lower court’s decision to certify the proposed Class of Illinois Facebook users. 

This effort was unsuccessful, however, as the Supreme Court rejected this request and the BIPA class action lawsuit was sent back to district court. 

Are you an Illinois Facebook user? What do you think of the terms of this settlement? Let us know in the comment section below!

Top Class Actions will post updates to this class action settlement as they become available. For the latest updates, keep checking TopClassActions.com or sign up for our free newsletter. You can also receive notifications when this article is updated by using your free Top Class Actions account and clicking the “Follow Article” button at the top of the post.

Plaintiffs and Class Members are represented by Alexander G. Tievsky, Jay Edelson, Rafey Balabanian and Benjamin H. Richman of Edelson PC, Shawn A. Williams; John H. George, Paul J. Geller, Stuart A. Davidson and Christopher C. Gold of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP; and Corban S. Rhodes and Joel H. Bernstein of Labaton Sucharow LLP.

The Facebook Face Scan Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Facebook Biometric Information Privacy Litigation, Case No. 3:15-cv-03747, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

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