According to the latest reports, a lawsuit has been filed against the company in a state court in Redwood City, California accusing it of storing Instagram users' biometric data without consent. Facebook is said to have not only stored but also profited from the data collected.
The lawsuit pointed out that Instagram started alerting users about it only at the start of 2020.
How Is The Biometric Data Collected?
The lawsuit claims that Facebook uses its face tagging feature on Instagram for facial recognition and creates a face template to store it in their data. This identification is stated to be used to identify people across all its platforms and the data is shared with other entities as well. Even those who don't use Instagram are said to be identified through other peoples' posts on the photo app.
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Facebook's Response
In a response to Business Insider, Facebook spokesperson Stephanie Otway refuted the claims by calling the suit "baseless". "Instagram doesn’t use face recognition technology,” she said. Facebook is yet to give a full clarification or statement over the matter.
Meanwhile, here is what Instagram’s online data policy states about Face recognition: "If you have it turned on, we use face recognition technology to recognize you in photos, videos and camera experiences. The face-recognition templates we create may constitute data with special protections under the laws of your country. Learn more about how we use face recognition technology, or control our use of this technology in Facebook Settings. If we introduce face-recognition technology to your Instagram experience, we will let you know first, and you will have control over whether we use this technology for you."
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Recent Settlement & What Lies Ahead
Last month, Facebook had offered to pay $650 million to settle a lawsuit in which it was accused of indulging in similar face-recognition practices without user consent.
If the lawsuit holds ground and the Instagram-parent company is found guilty, it will be liable to pay $1,000 to $5,000 for each violation, the total amount payable for full damages can reach as much as $500 billion.
Previously, Facebook became the centre of the Cambridge Analytica scandal wherein the company used Facebook as a platform to collect and mine users' data for running targetted ads and posts to help political parties in elections. The political campaigns seemed to be mostly very successful because of the unique albeit unethical approach.
Facebook as a company has been under the scanner since, for not doing enough to protect its users' larger interests and creating a fair/balanced platform.
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