Facebook was involved in a lawsuit that claimed that the social media giant had caused harm to consumer privacy. According to sources, the social media giant was accused of collecting the biometric images using its phot-tagging feature without the consent of the general public. Apparently, the suit was settled with Facebook agreeing to pay $650 million in settlement to the Illinois residents and administration.
But recently Facebook has stated that it will only make payouts to about a quarter of the 6 million Illinois residents. According to the social media giant, the payouts will only be made to those residents that are eligible for the consumer privacy settlement.
According to sources, in the biggest consumer privacy settlement in Facebook’s history; about 1.57 million people will pocket more than $300 each. And about a third of the $650 million worth settlement fund will be set aside for Illinois attorneys and administrative costs.
Considering that the lawsuit was not dragged to court but was instead settled, Facebook managed to save itself from paying a lot more. Out of all the residents involved in the case, not everyone had filed for privacy violations and if the users had taken the company to trial; they could have easily sought damages of as much as $5,000 for each. It was not merely a case of personal privacy violation but also a violation of the Illinois Biometric Privacy Information Act, which is a pretty big deal. So Facebook saved itself from a lot of trouble there folks.
Apparently, it was not easy for Facebook to get out of this situation. According to sources, the company got the U.S. District Judge James Donato on board it added an extra $100 million to the original settlement of $550 million. To add the cherry, Facebook offered that it would ping its users directly through their accounts to alert them of the cash jackpot. And thus the final approval of the deal is scheduled for early in 2021. With the settlement, Facebook surely has to pay the biggest consumer privacy settlement but also will avoid what could have been the biggest blunder in its history.
