Apple will face a class-action lawsuit alleging it violated Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), in a case that could cost the company more than $30 billion. Here are the details.
In March 2020, a group of roughly 10 Apple users filed a putative class action accusing Apple Photos’ “People” feature of violating Illinois’ BIPA, which gives citizens “the right to control their biometric information by requiring notice before collection and giving them the power to say no by withholding consent.”
BIPA allows for damages of $1,000 for each negligent violation and $5,000 for each intentional or reckless violation.
This is the same law that led to a lawsuit against Meta ending in a $650 million settlement over Facebook’s facial-recognition system, which scanned photos to suggest people for users to tag, as well as a separate $68.5 million settlement over allegations that Instagram collected and stored users’ biometric data without consent.
Back to the case against Apple, since it was filed in 2020, the lawsuit has undergone four amended complaints, years of discovery, and multiple attempts by Apple to have the claims dismissed, before the court ultimately granted class certification in June.
Based on the certification document spotted by The Times (via AppleInsider), the plaintiffs are seeking to represent roughly 6.5 million from three proposed classes:
If found liable, Apple could be looking at a $32.5 billion damages bill.
With the class action now certified, the case can move forward. Apple had requested an immediate appeal of the certification order, but that request has been denied.
This means the lawsuit will return to the district court for further proceedings, where the plaintiffs will still need to prove that Apple violated Illinois’ BIPA before any damages can be awarded.
To read The Times‘ full report, follow this link.
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Marcus Mendes is a Brazilian tech podcaster and journalist who has been closely following Apple since the mid-2000s.
He began covering Apple news in Brazilian media in 2012 and later broadened his focus to the wider tech industry, hosting a daily podcast for seven years.
