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Facebook wins preliminary approval to settle facial recognition lawsuit

Facebook wins preliminary approval to settle facial recognition lawsuit

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Tech giant Facebook has won preliminary approval from a federal court on Wednesday for settlement of a lawsuit that claimed it illegally collected and stored biometric data of millions of users without their consent.

In July, Facebook Inc raised its settlement offer by $100 million to $650 million concerning their lawsuit that involved Illinois users accusing them of violating the US state's Biometric Information Privacy Act.

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According to Judge James Donato's order filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California, the revised settlement agreement resolved the court's concerns, leading to the preliminary approval of the class action settlement.

"Preliminary approval of the amended stipulation of class action settlement, Dkt. No. 468, is granted, and a final approval hearing is set for January 7, 2021," the judge said in the eight-page order.

The social media giant allegedly violated the state's law through its "Tag Suggestions" feature, which began in 2015. This feature allowed users to recognize their Facebook friends from previously uploaded photos, according to the lawsuit.

(Inputs from Agencies)