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Facebook just paid out a large settlement to the state of Illinois for selling users' data via facial recognition technology. According to NBC, as part of the settlement fund that was set up after the class-action lawsuit in 2021 against Facebook; each Illinois Facebook user who filed a claim will now be receiving a $397 check either in the mail or direct deposit. There is still a litigation in progress to determine if residents who do not use Facebook should receive a check.
“It says something interesting about the law that we have here in Illinois, that it actually has some teeth in it, and that they were able to really get Facebook to own up to having done something wrong,” Chicago resident Eric Allix Rogers told NBC.
NBC detailed the reason for the settlement to be the Biometric Information Privacy Act that was passed in 2008. This act allows users to sue companies if their privacy is violated via facial geometry and finger scans among other forms of data collection. Texas and Washington have similar laws in place, but not to the point where consumers are able to file a lawsuit.
“We’re past the point when privacy violations are punished with slaps on the wrist. When you misuse millions of peoples’ most intimate information, there’s a cost,” Albert Fox Cahn, director of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project shared.
Meta, Facebook's parent company, has since deleted over one billion facial templates. Chicagoans have begun planning how they want to spend their settlement checks.
“This is immediately going to pay off the wedding bands,” mentioned Chicago resident Joe Cacchione.