Facebook is now sued over allegedly gathering biometric data on Instagram

It seems that Facebook has a new legal issue in its hands. The company was accused of “collecting, storing, and profiting” from the biometri...

It seems that Facebook has a new legal issue in its hands. The company was accused of “collecting, storing, and profiting” from the biometric data of more than 100 million Instagram users. This complaint was taken to a state court in Redwood City, California, this past Monday.

According to Bloomberg, Facebook is now facing a new lawsuit. This time, for gathering biometric data related to facial recognition. The lawsuit says that Facebook is collecting a face-tagging tool through Instagram, to create “face templates,” which are then stored in Facebook databases. Affected users say that Instagram uses this tool automatically and without their consent.

“Once Facebook captures its Instagram users’ protected biometrics, it uses them to bolster its facial recognition abilities across all of its products, including the Facebook application, and shares this information among various entities,”

If found guilty, Facebook would have to pay $1,00 per violation, or up to $5,00 if it’s found to have acted intentionally, since this would violate an Illinois privacy lay which prohibits the unauthorized harvesting of biometric data. Facebook already agreed to pay $650 million to settle a similar lawsuit back in July. This isn’t the first time Facebook is in a tight spot due to privacy issues, and it seems that it won’t be the last one.

 

Source Apple Insider

Via Bloomberg

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