Meta is facing a proposed class action lawsuit. The complaint alleges the company violated privacy laws in Illinois and California. It claims Meta extracted biometric information from user photographs without notice or consent.
WIRED reported in June that code for NameTag was secretly embedded in the Meta glasses AI companion app. That app had been downloaded more than 50 million times. The feature was not enabled for users. Analysis showed the system was designed to turn faces captured by the glasses into biometric signatures. It compared those signatures with faceprints stored in a database on the user phone. That database was configured to receive updates from Meta. WIRED could not determine where the underlying faceprint data originated at the time.
The complaint alleges those faceprints possibly derive from Facebook and Instagram images. It cites reporting that Meta employees claimed NameTag could recognize people through Meta connections or public Instagram accounts. A company patent also describes 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. The company would not answer questions about whether NameTag would be opt-in or how the system would retain faceprints.
The complaint acknowledges Meta has not disclosed which images were used for generating biometric data. It states that information remains solely in the possession of the company. The suit also targets Meta image generation systems. Meta stated it trained Emu on large quantities of Facebook and Instagram images and text. Chief product officer Chris Cox called those platforms a data advantage for its AI systems. The complaint alleges the training process illegally harvested biometric information about people who appeared in the images.
Muse Image released this summer drew criticism after allowing users to generate images based on other people public Instagram accounts. The company removed that feature within days after stating it missed the mark. A Meta spokesperson stated the lawsuit is without merit and misrepresents their work. They added that Meta has been transparent about how it uses information to build and improve AI products. The spokesperson noted that nothing has shipped to consumers for NameTags and no final decision has been made. They reiterated that Meta is not building a universal face database.
Justin Boley, a partner at Wexler Boley & Elgersma and an attorney for the plaintiffs, commented on the case. He stated that people should not have to worry if their biometric information will be misused simply because their photographs appear on a social media platform. The plaintiffs are Francisco Alvarez and his son, both Illinois residents, alongside Jeremy Wahl, a California resident, and his 10-year-old daughter. The proposed class includes people in Illinois, California, and across the United States whose images were uploaded to Facebook or Instagram or submitted to Meta generative AI systems through prompts, dating back to September 4, 2021. The complaint estimates the national class could number in the millions.
The plaintiffs are seeking $5,000 for each intentional or reckless violation under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, or actual damages if greater. They seek $1,000 for each negligent violation, or actual damages if greater, alongside injunctive relief. The California claims seek additional damages and other relief. Meta has previously faced fines over biometric data handling. The company agreed to pay $650 million in 2020 to settle an Illinois class action over an earlier face-recognition system. Meta announced in November 2021 that it would shut down that system and delete more than a billion faceprints. Meta also agreed to pay Texas $1.4 billion in 2024 to resolve separate allegations of unlawfully collecting biometric data from users.
Meta removed the NameTag code from its app the day after WIRED June 4 report. The company argued the feature never existed because it was not available to consumers. WIRED analysis and testing by outside researchers found a technically functional face-recognition system shipped inside an app downloaded by tens of millions of people. Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth called WIRED reporting incredibly misleading and absolutely dishonest. Weeks later, Bosworth described NameTag on a podcast, saying it could recognize people that a glasses wearer had previously met and asked the device to remember. He said it would be a great feature. Meta continued to describe NameTag as something it was exploring rather than a product available to consumers.
The complaint frames the case as part of a much longer pattern of privacy violations from Meta. It references Facebook earliest days by citing a 2004 chat where CEO Mark Zuckerberg reportedly referred to people who trusted him with their data as dumb fucks.
