Snap settles for $35 million over alleged privacy violation with Lenses

Snap, the parent company of Snapchat, has reached a $35 million settlement in a lawsuit. This concerned the possible violation of a privacy law in the US state of Illinois with the app Snapchat Lenses. The settlement amount is lower than with other tech giants.

The lawsuit was about whether facial recognition in Lenses de BIPA law in Illinois violated. Snap continues to deny that; according to the company, the software can recognize that something is an eye or nose, but there is no method to determine whose facial features are. Also, the data does not leave the phone, the company says. Despite this, the company has decided to settle the lawsuit, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Any Snapchat user in Illinois could theoretically get anything between $58 and $117 from the settlement amount. The lawsuit is canceled due to the settlement. Google previously paid $100 million in a settlement over facial recognition in Google Photos, while Meta was ordered to pay $650 million for violating BIPA with facial recognition in Facebook, says Techcrunch. BIPA is a law that regulates that people must have given explicit permission in advance when using biometric data.