Facebook to pay $550 million settlement over facial recognition tech in Illinois

According to The Verge, Facebook has agreed to pay a $550 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit in Illinois, regarding its use of facial recognition. This lawsuit against Facebook has started in 2015, as plaintiffs alleged that Facebook’s initial version of its Tag Suggestions tool was violating the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act. This tool scanned users’ faces in photos and offered suggestions about her/his identity, without users’ consent. TechCrunch reports that Illinois Facebook users from mid-2011 to mid-2015 may expect as much as $200 each.