Meta must pay $51 million to Canadian Facebook users who accused it of using their names and photos without their consent, violating the privacy laws of four provinces.
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This was stated on Thursday by the Vancouver-based law firm Branch MacMaster, which led the class action lawsuit in question.
The settlement reached provides that this amount will be paid in exchange for a full and final release of the plaintiff class from all claims at issue in the class action lawsuit.
“The settlement represents a settlement of the disputed claims and does not constitute an admission of liability by the defendant,” the law firm said in a statement.
According to the lawsuit, Facebook used names and photos of certain Canadian users without their consent in “Sponsored Stories” advertisements published from 2011 to 2014.
This process violated the privacy laws of British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador, the provinces to which the complainants in the case belonged.
Approval of the settlement is subject to a final hearing scheduled for March 13 in the Supreme Court of British Columbia.