Facebook Faces Fresh Lawsuit over Instagram’s Use of Biometric Data

© POOL/AFP MANDEL NGAN
AFP

A  lawsuit filed against Facebook in California this week claims that the company’s Instagram platform is unlawfully harvesting biometric data from its users. The lawsuit claims that Instagram is intentionally stealing facial recognition data from more than 100 million users without their consent.

According to a report by Bloomberg, Facebook is now facing a massive lawsuit over Instagram’s alleged practice of harvesting biometric data from its users. The report claims that Instagram uses its photo-tagging technology to create a database of its users’ facial features.

In states such as Illinois, the practice of harvest biometric data without consent is punishable by significant fines. If the court finds that Instagram engaged in the lawful collection of biometric data, the company may be forced to pay $1,000 for each violation. The fine increases to $5,000 per violation if the company is found to have acted recklessly or intentionally in their collection of the data.

Breitbart News reported in January that Facebook paid a $550 million settlement related to a lawsuit that claimed that the company had collected biometric data from millions of users. The settlement increased global concern over “biometric privacy.”

“Biometrics is one of the two primary battlegrounds, along with geolocation, that will define our privacy rights for the next generation,” Plaintiff attorney Jay Edelson said. “We hope and expect that other companies will follow Facebook’s lead and pay significant attention to the importance of our biometric information.”

In January, Facebook finally told its users that it was collecting their biometric data. In July, the state of Texas launched an investigation into Facebook’s harvesting of user data.

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.

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