JAKARTA – A northern California district court has fined Facebook for $ 650 million (equivalent to $ 9.2 trillion). The penalties stem from multiple parties filing a lawsuit against Facebook because the Mark Zuckerberg-owned company has been collecting biometric data since 2015.
In this case, Facebook had to reimburse the 1.6 million users who filed the lawsuit. The company must pay US $ 345 (equivalent to € 4.9 million) to each person claiming damages. The court also required Facebook to pay “as soon as possible.”
James Donato, a United States (US) federal judge, said it was the highest penalty in a digital privacy case. Sanctions give victory to users who feel their privacy is threatened.
“This ruling is a great victory for users who are fighting for their rights and privacy in the digital realm,” said Donato.
In this case, Facebook does not practice and prefers to carry out the sanctions it receives. The company will pay the amount of the sanctions mentioned in the District Court.
“We are pleased that this lawsuit has been decided, so that we can move to another mass in the interest of the Facebook community and shareholders,” the Facebook statement said.
According to a Business Insider report, the case that resulted in a 9.2 trillion rp fine started in 2015. At that time, Facebook was sued for scanning faces and identifying the faces of its users through the tagging function. As a result, the appearance of the feature presents controversy for users in the country.
Because, the feature is claimed to violate the privacy rules that have been set. User facial analysis is done without user’s permission. However, Facebook denied the allegations. According to the company, Facebook has received approval from its users.
“We are always transparent about the use of facial recognition technology and users can turn it on or off at any time,” Facebook said at the time.
Previously, Mark Zuckerberg’s company had been fined 71 billion euros for the problem of data breaches belonging to Cambridge Analytica. The event took place in 2019.
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