Meta is poised to make another multimillion-dollar settlement payment to end litigation concerning alleged violations of an Illinois biometrics privacy law, and lawyers are again poised to potentially claim more than a third of the money.
The social media giant, which has already paid $400 each to Illinois Facebook users, has agreed to pay $68.5 million to settle claims regarding its Instagram platform, according to court records filed in DuPage County Circuit Court.
DuPage County Judge Angelo Kappas granted preliminary approval to the settlement on July 3.
The lead plaintiffs, Heather Parris and Karen Joyce, through attorneys from Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, of Chicago and St. Petersburg, Florida, alleged Instagram violated provisions of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act by collecting facial scans without obtaining users’ written consent or having a policy on data retention and deletion. The women each are in line for $2,500 plaintiff service awards.
The attorneys will request 35% of the settlement fund, which could amount to almost $24 million. That would leave about $44 million for Illinois residents who used Instagram as far back as 2015.
According to settlement documents, Illinois Instagram users could be eligible for a pro rata share of those funds. The settlement documents have not yet estimated how much that share may be.
However, the Chicago Tribune has reported that roughly 4 million people, or a quarter of the state’s population, could be eligible to claim a share of the settlement funds. That could equal payouts of $11 per person or less.
In addition to representing significantly smaller per capita payouts than the Facebook settlement yielded, the figure also is considerably lower than the roughly $90 Google paid per user in a $100 million settlement to end a similar class action against that tech company.
“All individuals who used Instagram while in Illinois at any time between Aug. 10, 2015 and Aug. 16, 2023” are eligible to file claims, according to court documents, including minors. Previous BIPA settlements have been open to minors as well, such as those involving thumbprint scanners for member access at Six Flags Great America.
Unlike other protracted BIPA litigation, the Instagram allegations have moved quickly. Class counsel said it sent dispute notice letters to Meta in November 2022, announcing an intent “to represent thousands of Illinois consumers in a series of individual arbitrations before the American Arbitration Association seeking damages and injunctive relief” for alleged BIPA violations.
The parties had a daylong mediation session March 15 and quickly moved toward settlement. Parris and Joyce filed their class action complaint June 27 in DuPage County, a key step in resolving the potential individual arbitration claims. A final approval hearing on the settlement motion is planned for Oct. 11, while the deadline to file a claim is Sept. 27. The exclusion and objection deadlines both are Aug. 16.
Meta has agreed to proceed only for the purposes of settlement, according to the agreement, and if final approval isn’t reached all individual claims will proceed in arbitration. Meta agreed to provide “a list of the names, Instagram usernames and email addresses or phone numbers, to the extent such information is reasonably available from Meta’s account records, for all active Instagram users who are predicted to live in Illinois.”
Meta is represented by the Cooley law firm, of San Francisco, as well as Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, New York, and Mayer Brown, Chicago.