Apple Photos Privacy Case Advances, With Up to $32.5 Billion Alleged Exposure
A U.S. appeals court has allowed a class-action lawsuit against Apple to proceed, alleging the company violated Illinois biometric privacy laws. The case centers on the Photos app's facial recognition feature, which plaintiffs claim collects biometric data without proper consent.
Why it matters
The case could result in a massive $32.5 billion payout, setting a significant legal precedent for how tech companies handle biometric data and user privacy.
Court clears path for multibillion-dollar Apple biometric privacy lawsuit.
The iPhone maker is facing a potential $32.5 billion class-action lawsuit accusing the company of collecting biometric information through its Photos app without proper notice or consent.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently denied Apple permission to immediately appeal a lower court decision certifying the case as a class action. The denial leaves the certification order in place, allowing proceedings to continue in district court, where plaintiffs must still prove that Apple violated Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).
The lawsuit, first filed in 2020 and amended several times since, centers on the Photos app’s “People” feature, which uses facial recognition technology to group images of the same person.
Plaintiffs claim the feature creates unique “faceprints” from images and that Apple collected biometric information without meeting BIPA’s requirements for user notification, written consent, and data handling policies.
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