Overview
- The complaint, filed September 4 in federal court in Chicago, alleges Meta harvested images from Facebook and Instagram to create biometric faceprints for an unreleased feature called NameTag and to train image models including Emu and Muse Image.
- Reporting in June found NameTag code embedded in Meta’s smart‑glasses companion app that had been downloaded more than 50 million times, and Meta removed the code after the exposure but says the feature never shipped to consumers.
- Plaintiffs seek class certification for people whose images were uploaded since at least September 4, 2021, and ask for statutory damages under Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act, which allows $1,000 per negligent violation and $5,000 per intentional or reckless violation.
- Meta says the suit is without merit, denies building a universal face database, and will likely argue that any biometric processing occurred on users’ devices; the case will move next to briefing on certification and discovery into Meta’s data sources and handling.
- The lawsuit builds on Meta’s history of biometric and privacy settlements and, if successful, could reshape how social platforms may reuse user images for AI training and spur wider industry change.