Facebook bumps up offer to $650 million to settle facial recognition class action

facebook
Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain

Facebook has agreed to pay $650 million—$100 million more than before—to settle a long-running class-action lawsuit over its use of facial recognition technology.

"We are focused on settling as it is in the best interest of our community and our shareholders to move past this matter," Facebook said in a statement.

Three Illinois residents sued Facebook under a , the Biometric Information Privacy Act, which allows residents who have had their faces scanned for data without written consent to sue.

The lawsuit, which was certified as a class action, involved gathering facial data for a Facebook feature that suggests the name of people in users' photos and could have exposed Facebook to billions in damages.

Facial recognition software is courting more controversy in the wake of nationwide protests over police brutality. Amazon, Microsoft and IBM are suspending or limiting 's access to the technology, which frequently misidentifies African Americans and other people of color.

Facebook's original settlement offer of $550 million in January, which would have resulted in payouts of between $150 to $300 a person, was hailed by the law firms representing Facebook users as the largest cash settlement ever to resolve a privacy-related .

It was rejected by U.S. District Judge James Donato of California as too paltry. "It's $550 million. That's a lot. But the question is, is it really a lot?" Donato asked lawyers for both sides in a court hearing last month, according to a transcript reviewed by NPR.

©2020 USA Today
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Citation: Facebook bumps up offer to $650 million to settle facial recognition class action (2020, July 24) retrieved 19 March 2024 from https://techxplore.com/news/2020-07-facebook-million-facial-recognition-class.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Facebook agrees to $550 million settlement in facial recognition class action lawsuit

3 shares

Feedback to editors