Snapchat agrees to pay $35 million for unauthorized US user data collection

24 Aug 2022 , 12:33 PM

The parent firm of the photo-sharing service Snapchat, Snap, and the US state of Illinois have settled a class-action lawsuit involving unauthorized user data acquisition for $35 million.

The Biometric Information Privacy Act of the state was allegedly broken by Snapchat’s filters and lenses, according to the lawsuit (BIPA).

According to The Chicago Tribune, the business “stored biometric data without users’ authorization.”

A portion of the settlement, “estimated to be between $58 and $117,” will go to people who used lenses and filters between November 17 and 30, 2015.

According to state legislation, businesses must provide written explanations to customers as to why and how long their biometric data will be stored.

A federal judge in Illinois on Tuesday approved the $92 million settlement of a class-action lawsuit between TikTok users and the Chinese short-form video app.

TikTok was accused of breaking both federal law and the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, according to the lawsuit.

In relation to a face grouping feature in Google Photos that was allegedly in violation of BIPA, Google agreed to pay out $100 million in June.

In order to resolve a comparable BIPA class action case, Facebook agreed to pay $650 million in 2021.