FACEBOOK SETTLEMENT FATHOMS : $650 MILLION

 

WASHINGTON : Facebook to pay $650 million settlement over US privacy dispute.

A US federal judge has given final approval top Facebook's $650 million payment to settle a privacy dispute between the California group and 1.6 million users in the US state of Illinois.

The decision was issued on Friday, according to documents seen by AFP on Sunday.

Chicago attorney Jaay Edelson sued Facebook in 2015, alleging that the social network illegally collected biometric data to identify faces in violation of a 2008 Illinois privacy law.

At the end of January 2020, Facebook agreed to pay $550 million after it failed to get the lawsuit    -filed as a class action in 2018, dismissed.

But in July 2020 the judge in the case, James Donato, ruled that the amount was insufficient.

During that trial, it emerged that Faceebook was violating Illinois law by storing biometric data    -digital scans of people's faces, in support of its face tagging feature - without users' consent.

In 2019, Facebook proposed that the facial recognition feature be option only.

According to Donato, the regulation is ''a landmark result'' and represents a ''major win for consumers in the hotly contested area of  digital privacy.''

''It is one of the largest settlements ever for privacy violation,'' he commented, noting that plaintiffs will receive at least $345 each in compensation. [AFP]