The Rivera v. Google BIPA settlement is a $100 million class action resolution over allegations that Google Photos scanned users’ faces and created biometric templates without the written notice and consent required by Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act. Payments of about $95 to $96 went out to 687,484 eligible Illinois residents starting July 7, 2023.1
What Google Was Accused of Doing
The case centered on a Google Photos feature called face grouping. When photos were uploaded, Google’s software detected faces and built digital templates from each person’s facial geometry, then used those templates to sort photos by the people appearing in them. Plaintiffs said that was biometric data collection, and that Google did it without telling people why it was gathering the data, how long it would keep it, or how it would destroy it. They also said Google never got the written consent BIPA requires.
The class was not just Google Photos users. Lead plaintiff Lindabeth Rivera never had a Google Photos account; a friend uploaded photos of her and Google’s system created face templates anyway. The other lead plaintiff, Joseph Weiss, was a user whose own uploads were scanned.
Who Was Covered
The settlement covered all Illinois residents who appeared in a photograph in Google Photos at any time between May 1, 2015, and April 25, 2022. That framing captured people who never signed up for the service themselves but whose images ended up in someone else’s library.
Judge Anna M. Loftus of the Circuit Court of Cook County granted preliminary approval on April 25, 2022. Claims had to be filed by September 24, 2022, and final approval came on September 28, 2022. Google did not admit wrongdoing; claimants who took a payment released their biometric-data claims against the company.
How Much Class Members Received
Each valid claimant received between $95 and $96 after deductions for administration costs, attorney fees, and service awards to the named plaintiffs. The $100 million fund was non-reversionary, so none of it went back to Google.
Early projections had estimated $200 to $400 per person. The final figure came in lower because so many people filed claims: 687,484 eligible Illinois residents in total.
Payments began on July 7, 2023. Recipients could choose a mailed check or an electronic option through Zelle, PayPal, Venmo, direct deposit, or a digital MasterCard.
Changes to Google Photos
Google also had to change how it handles face grouping data. The company now provides notice about the feature and publishes a support page describing its retention practices. Under the current rules:
- Deleting an individual photo or video also deletes any face models built from it.
- If a Google Photos account sits inactive for more than two years, all face grouping data is deleted.
- Turning off face grouping purges the associated biometric data.
- Deleting a Google account removes all face models.
Why the Case Was Filed in State Court
Rivera and Weiss originally sued in federal court in 2016. In December 2018, Judge Edmond Chang of the Northern District of Illinois granted summary judgment for Google, ruling that the plaintiffs lacked Article III standing because they had not shown a concrete injury. The court never decided whether Google actually violated BIPA.
Plaintiffs refiled in Illinois state court, where BIPA claims do not face the same standing hurdle. The state action, filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County as Case No. 2019-CH-00990, became the main vehicle for the litigation, and seven related state and federal cases were eventually consolidated as the Google Photos BIPA Cases.
How Rivera Fits Into BIPA Litigation
BIPA, passed in Illinois in 2008, is unusual because it lets individuals sue companies directly rather than routing enforcement through a state agency. Statutory damages run from $1,000 per negligent violation to $5,000 per intentional or reckless violation, and violations can be counted per person and per day, which is what makes the arithmetic at large tech companies so heavy.
The biggest BIPA case before Rivera was against Facebook over its Tag Suggestion feature. That case produced a $650 million settlement finalized in February 2021, covering more than 1.6 million Illinois users at a minimum of $345 each, with a claims rate near 22%, well above the 4% to 9% typical in consumer class actions. TikTok, Microsoft, Amazon, Snap, Apple, and Clearview AI have also faced BIPA suits over facial recognition or biometric data practices.
The Rivera fund is among the largest biometric privacy settlements in U.S. history, and its scope, sweeping in non-users whose faces were scanned by other people’s uploads, is one of the reasons the class ran so large.