Facebook users could receive up to $5,000 in compensation for each picture tagged by the company’s photo-scanning AI, it has emerged.
A federal judge has ruled the social media site will be fined between $1,000 to $5,000 every time a user’s image is used without consent.
If you’re wondering what the hell this is all about, the practice was suspended for European users back in 2012 over fears the system was overly intrusive into users’ privacy. However, it’s still very much alive and kicking in the US.
Illinois judge James Donato said:
Consequently, the case will proceed with a class consisting of Facebook users located in Illinois for whom Facebook created and stored a face template after June 7, 2011.
The tag suggestions feature was rolled out across Facebook in June 2011.
The other week Mark Zuckerberg – in the midst of the Cambridge Analytica storm – confirmed Facebook scans images and texts to ensure they’re in line with community standards.
He made the revelation during a podcast interview with Vox’s editor at large, Ezra Klein