Facebook to Pay $550 Million in Biometric Privacy Accord
- Company averts trial with billions in damages at stake
- Deal resolves class action over face-scanning technology
This article is for subscribers only.
Facebook Inc. agreed to pay $550 million to resolve claims it collected user biometric data without consent in one of the largest consumer privacy settlements in U.S. history.
The accord, which requires a judge’s approval, will avert a trial that may have exposed the social networking company to billions of dollars in damages. Facebook fought unsuccessfully to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to derail the class action case. The users alleged that the company’s photo-scanning technology violated an Illinois law by gathering and storing biometric data without their permission.