Facebook pays $ 650 million in the US for the privacy breach
Facebook pays compensation to users in Illinois
© 2021 AFP
To settle a legal dispute over a privacy breach of 1.6 million users in the United States, internet company Facebook pays $ 650 million (538 million euros) in compensation.
To settle a legal dispute over a privacy breach of 1.6 million users in the United States, internet company Facebook pays $ 650 million (538 million euros) in compensation. According to documents seen by Agence France-Presse on Sunday, a federal court approved the agreement between Facebook and 1.6 million of its users in Illinois.
A Chicago prosecutor charged Facebook in 2015 with collecting biometric facial recognition data, which happened without the users’ knowledge. She said that the California internet giant’s actions violated the Illinois Privacy Act of 2008.
After Facebook failed to resign, the company pledged $ 550 million to settle the lawsuit in January 2020. Judge James Donato dismissed the amount as insufficient.
Donato described the amount of compensation now agreed upon as “one of the highest comparisons of privacy infringement ever.” It is a huge success for consumers “in the hotly contested digital privacy zone”. Each affected user will receive at least $ 345 in compensation.
Facebook was initially unavailable for comment.
Twitter fan. Beer specialist. Entrepreneur. General pop culture nerd. Music trailblazer. Problem solver. Bacon evangelist. Foodaholic.