Snap, the parent company of Snapchat – a photo-sharing platform has arrived at a $35 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit with the state of Illinois in the United States over illegal consumer Data collection.
According to the lawsuit, Snapchat’s filters and lenses breached the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
According to the Chicago Tribune, the company stored biometric Data without the consent of the users.
Users who used lenses and filters between November 17, 2015, and until now are eligible for a portion of the settlement, which is “estimated to be between $58 and $117,” according to a report published late Tuesday.
According to state law, businesses must inform customers in writing why their biometric Data is being gathered and the duration for which it will be kept.
However, a Snapchat spokesperson stated that the lenses don’t gather biometric Data that can be utilized to recognize a particular person or engage in facial identification.
While we are sure that Lenses do not breach BIPA, we deployed an in-app consent notice for Snapchatters in Illinois earlier this year out of a plethora of caution and as a testament to our commitment to user privacy, a spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, a federal judge in Illinois agreed to a $92 million class-action lawsuit settlement on Tuesday between the Chinese short-form video app TikTok and its users.
The lawsuit was filed because TikTok breached both federal law and the Biometric Information Privacy Act of Illinois.
Google agreed to pay a $100 million settlement in June over a face grouping feature in Google Photos that allegedly breached BIPA.
In 2021, Facebook agreed to settle a similar BIPA class action lawsuit for $650 million.
