Illinois residents who used the Snapchat filters or lenses may receive a payout because the settlement of the social media platform reached $35 million just this month in a privacy lawsuit on how the data was collected, according to a report by The Verge.
The filters and lenses violated Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act or BIPA as the company allegedly collected and stored biometric data without the consent of the users. These include users' voiceprints and facial geometry scans. However, Snapchat denies the allegations yet decided to settle before the trial started.
Spokesperson Peter Boogard said that the company did not collect any data that could be used to identify a certain person; rather, it only stayed on the mobile device of the user and was not sent to the servers of the company.
"While we are confident that Lenses do not violate BIPA, out of an abundance of caution and as a testament to our commitment to user privacy, earlier this year we rolled out an in-app consent notice for Snapchatters in Illinois," he added.
Yahoo reported that the qualified residents who will receive a payout are the ones who used the "Lenses" and "Filters" features of the application between November 17, 2015 to present. The individual payouts will depend on how many approved residents will claim the payout.
These residents will be approved by the settlement administrator and must submit a claim form until November 5, 2022. Forms can be submitted online and through mailing (printed copy).
Snapchat Plus' Success
Despite having this issue, Snapchat Plus garnered 1 million subscribers over the world two months after its launch. A report from TechCrunch said that the application's revenue went up to $7.3 million in the first 30 days.
Users have the choice to pay on a monthly basis that costs $3.99, the six months tier for $21.99, and the annual subscription that costs $39.99.
Privacy Lawsuits from Different Social Media Platforms
Tiktok was also accused of committing a crime under the state's law in February last year. The lawsuit claims the company misused highly sensitive personal data. The same as Snapchat, the social media company rejected these allegations yet paid a $92 million settlement as they wanted to 'focus on building a safe experience in the platform.
Meanwhile, Meta reached a $37.5 million settlement this week as they were allegedly having a violation on the California law by tracking the location of the users. As per the lawsuit, the company used the IP addresses of their users for targeting an advertisement. However, it was declined by the company as per the report from Reuters.
Engadget also reported that Google also paid a $100 million settlement as they were accused of also violating BIPA with their face detection and grouping feature on their Google Photos.
Related Article : Illinois Residents Gets Less than $400 Checks in Settlement for Facebook Lawsuit Over Facial Recognition
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Written by Inno Flores
