Facebook sued over 'illegally collecting biometric data' of Instagram users

What you need to know

• Facebook has been sued in California.
• It's over allegations it collected the biometric data of 100 million Instagram users.
• It is claimed Facebook stored and profited from the data without users' knowledge or consent.

A new lawsuit filed against Facebook claims it illegally collected the biometric data of 100 million users without their knowledge or consent.

As reported by Bloomberg:

As the report notes, Facebook has already offered to pay up $650 million in order to settle a similar lawsuit claiming it illegally collected biometric data using a photo-tagging tool for Facebook.

Now, a new lawsuit filed Monday claims something similar may have happened on Instagram:

According to Illinois privacy law, the unauthorized collection of biometric data is prohibited, and companies can be forced to pay up to $1,000 per violation. The claims that it was not until the beginning of 2020 that Facebook started informing Instagram users of the practice.

Regarding the earlier Facebook case, a judge rejected Facebook's offer to settle up for $550 million, stating it was a "significant reduction" from the $1,000 set by Illinois legislature. A revised offer of $650 million was agreed by both parties but has not been approved by the judge as yet. If the settlement goes through, affected users could be paid between $200 and $400 each.