Users of Snapchat in Illinois who applied filters or lenses may be eligible for compensation. In a class action lawsuit concerning the manner in which user data was gathered, Illinois and Snap reportedly agreed to a $35 million settlement this month, according to the Chicago Tribune.
According to the lawsuit, Snapchat’s filters and lenses illegally collected and stored users’ biometric data in violation of the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). When it comes to regulating businesses that gather residents’ biometric data, such as fingerprints, iris and retina scans, and facial scans, Illinois has some of the strictest regulations. The state law restricts the sale and transfer of the data and mandates that companies inform customers in writing why their biometric data is being gathered and how long it will be retained.
The Chicago Tribune discusses that Illinois residents who used lenses and filters between November 17th, 2015 till date may be entitled to a fraction of the settlement, which is expected to total between $58 and $117. Users who believe they may be entitled to the settlement have until September 24th to lodge a claim and here is the how-to. The deal is still awaiting final approval.
Snap, however, has denied violation of the BIPA. A representative of Snap, Pete Boogaard says that Snapchat lenses “do not collect biometric data that can be used to identify a specific person, or engage in facial identification.” Snap representative also added that all data collected and used by lenses have been programmed to remain on a user’s mobile device and not are available or sent to Snap’s servers in any way.
Boogaard further explains that “While we are confident that Lenses do not violate BIPA, out of an abundance of caution and as a testament to our commitment to user privacy, earlier this year we rolled out an in-app consent notice for Snapchatters in Illinois.”
Although this isn’t the first time Illinois residents would sue companies that collect biometric data. Earlier this week, approval was granted for a $92 million settlement in a different case which claimed TikTok violated Illinois law. Also, in a relation to a face grouping feature in Google Photos that was allegedly in violation of BIPA, Google was slammed with a payment of a whopping $100 million in June. In order to resolve a comparable BIPA class action case, Facebook consented to pay $650 million in 2021. All these are various BIPA violations tech companies have been accused of in Illinois.
Meanwhile, a $37.5 million payout was reached this week for Meta for the allegation of violation of the California law and user privacy by tracking users’ locations. According to Reuters, Facebook users claim the corporation utilized their IP addresses to target adverts even after they turned off location services. Meta opted not to make comments on the situation.
Olagoke Ajibola is a creative writer and content producer with an eye for details and excellence. He has a demonstrated history of telling stories for TV, Film and Online. Aside from being fascinated by the power of imagination, his other interest are travel, sport, reading and meeting people.
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
