A class action lawsuit filed against Facebook in the US state of Illinois in 2015 for its facial recognition feature was concluded. It was alleged that the company violated a law that prohibits users from collecting their biometric data without informing and obtaining their consent.
Facebook management, which did not accept these allegations, tried to get rid of the accusations by repeatedly filing a counterclaim, but the court rejected it each time. Seven years after the lawsuit was filed, the District Court in Northern California ordered users to be paid $397.
Facebook face-recognised compensation
More than 1.6 million Facebook users in Illinois started receiving paychecks this week either directly by deposit or by mail. Although some users involved in the case say that they are entitled to receive payments with the people they live in the same house, it is stated that the check has not reached everyone yet.
Although Facebook has removed the facial recognition system it developed to identify people in photos and videos shared on the platform since last year, it was actively using it until then. According to attorneys representing the plaintiffs, this feature was in violation of the State of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act.
The company was named “Meta Platforms Inc.” last October. After deciding to continue on his way as a company, he also removed the face recognition system from use. It was stated that users who actively use the feature will no longer be automatically recognized in photos. In addition, Meta also announced that it has deleted more than 1 billion already registered facial recognition templates from all systems.
In addition, it was decided to stop naming people identified in the photographs in alternative text explanations developed to assist the visually impaired. The company said this decision was taken to address the growing concern of users.
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