Иллинойс болон Калифорни мужийн оршин суугчид Meta компанийг Facebook, Instagram-ын хэрэглэгчдийн зураг болон биометр мэдээллийг хууль бусаар ашигласан хэмээн Чикаго хотын холбооны шүүхэд нэхэмжлэл гаргажээ.
Нэхэмжлэгчдийн үзэж буйгаар Meta компани хэрэглэгчдийн зөвшөөрөлгүйгээр авсан гэрэл зургуудыг өөрийн ухаалаг нүдний шилэнд зориулсан “NameTag” нүүр царай таних систем болон “Emu”, “Muse Image” зэрэг хиймэл оюун ухааны загваруудыг сургахад ашигласан байна. Тус компани нь хэрэглэгчдийн зургийг биометр тэмдэгт болгон хувиргаж, өөрийн мэдээллийн сантай харьцуулах замаар хувийн нууцыг зөрчсөн байж болзошгүй гэж хуулийн баримт бичигт дурджээ.
Meta компани өмнө нь нүүр царай таних төвлөрсөн мэдээллийн сан үүсгээгүй гэж мэдэгдэж байсан ч одоогоор уг систем хэрхэн ажилладаг болон мэдээллийг хэрхэн хадгалдаг талаар тодорхой хариулт өгөөгүй байна. Нэхэмжлэгчдийн хуульч Жастин Боли хүмүүс олон нийтийн сүлжээнд зургаа байршуулсныхаа төлөө биометр мэдээллээ алдах вий гэж санаа зовох ёсгүй хэмээн мэдэгдэлдээ онцолжээ.
Тус нэхэмжлэл нь 2021 оны есдүгээр сарын 4-нөөс хойш Facebook, Instagram дээр зургаа байршуулсан эсвэл Meta-гийн хиймэл оюун ухааны системд мэдээлэл оруулсан АНУ-ын сая сая хэрэглэгчдийг хамарч болзошгүй байна. Meta компани өмнө нь биометр мэдээлэлтэй холбоотой маргаануудад томоохон хэмжээний торгууль төлж байсан түүхтэй бөгөөд 2020 онд Иллинойс мужид 650 сая ам.доллар, 2024 онд Техас мужид 1.4 тэрбум ам.доллар төлөхөөр тохиролцож байв.
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A set of parents and their children in Illinois and California filed a lawsuit last week in federal court in Chicago alleging that Meta illegally used their Facebook and Instagram photos to build NameTag, an unreleased face-recognition system for its smart glasses, and to train generative AI models including Emu and Muse Image.
The proposed class action alleges that Meta violated Illinois and California privacy laws by extracting biometric information from people’s photos without notice or consent.
WIRED reported in June that code for NameTag had been secretly embedded in the Meta glasses AI companion app, which had been downloaded more than 50 million times. While the feature had not been enabled for users of the app, the analysis found that the system was designed to turn faces captured by the glasses into biometric signatures and compare them with so-called faceprints stored in a database on the user’s phone. That database was configured to receive updates from Meta. At the time, WIRED could not determine where the underlying faceprint data came from.
The complaint alleges that those faceprints are possibly derived from Facebook and Instagram images, citing reporting that Meta employees claimed that NameTag could recognize people through their Meta connections or public Instagram accounts, along with a company patent describing face matching against profile photos and other images held by Meta.
Meta told WIRED in June that it was “not building a central face database,” but it would not answer questions about whether NameTag would be opt-in or how the system would retain faceprints. The complaint acknowledges that Meta has not disclosed which images, if any, were used for generating biometric data, saying that information remains solely in the company’s possession.
The suit also targets Meta’s image-generation systems. Meta has said it trained Emu on large quantities of Facebook and Instagram images and text, with chief product officer Chris Cox calling those platforms a “data advantage” for its AI systems. The complaint alleges that the training process illegally harvested biometric information about people who appeared in the images. Muse Image, released this summer, had earlier drawn criticism after allowing users to generate images based on other people’s public Instagram accounts, a feature the company removed within days after saying it had “missed the mark.”
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.
“People shouldn’t have to worry if their biometric information will be misused simply because their photographs appear on a social media platform,” Justin Boley, a partner at Wexler Boley & Elgersma and an attorney for the plaintiffs, said in a statement.
The plaintiffs are Francisco Alvarez and his son, both Illinois residents, and Jeremy Wahl, a California resident, and his 10-year-old daughter. But the proposed class includes people in Illinois, California, and across the United States whose images were uploaded to Facebook or Instagram or were submitted to Meta’s generative AI systems through prompts, dating back to September 4, 2021. The complaint estimates that the national class could number in the millions.
Under Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act, the plaintiffs are seeking $5,000 for each intentional or reckless violation, or actual damages if greater, and $1,000 for each negligent violation, or actual damages if greater, as well as injunctive relief. The California claims seek additional damages and other relief.
This is not the first time Meta has faced fines over its handling of biometric data. In 2020, the company agreed to pay $650 million to settle an Illinois class action over an earlier face-recognition system. In November 2021, the company announced that it would shut down the system and delete more than a billion faceprints. In 2024, Meta agreed to pay Texas $1.4 billion to resolve separate allegations that it had unlawfully collected biometric data from users.
