A court in Illinois has allowed the examination of a class action lawsuit against Apple, which is accused of violating the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). If the court rules in favor of the plaintiffs, the company could be liable for over $30 billion in damages.
The lawsuit, filed in March 2020 by around ten device owners, concerns the People feature in the Apple Photos app. The plaintiffs claim that it processes users' biometric data in violation of BIPA's requirements, which give citizens the right to control the processing of their biometric data and opt-out. The law provides for a $1,000 penalty for each unintentional violation and $5,000 for each intentional or grossly negligent violation.
Meta (formerly Facebook) has previously been held liable in a similar case, settling for $650 million, along with an additional $68.5 million settlement related to Instagram violations.
The lawsuit against Apple has been revised several times since 2020. The plaintiffs have presented additional evidence, while the company has repeatedly attempted to have the lawsuit dismissed. However, in June of this year, the court finally affirmed its status as a class action. The plaintiffs will represent the interests of approximately 6.5 million people.
If the court decides that Apple violated BIPA, the total compensation could reach $32.5 billion. The company has attempted to appeal the decision regarding the class action status, but the motion was denied. The case will now return to the district court for a substantive hearing, where the plaintiffs must prove that Apple violated the law's requirements.
