Facebook must face class action lawsuit over face-tagging in photos, judge rules

  • A U.S. federal judge ruled on Monday that Facebook must face a class action lawsuit alleging that the social network unlawfully created facial templates for people without their permission.
Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill April 11, 2018.
Chip Somodevilla | Getty Images
Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the House Energy and Commerce Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill April 11, 2018.

A U.S. federal judge ruled on Monday that Facebook must face a class action lawsuit alleging that the social network unlawfully created facial templates for people without their permission.

The ruling adds to the privacy woes that have been mounting against Facebook for weeks, since it was disclosed that the personal information of millions of users was harvested by the political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

U.S. District Judge James Donato ruled in San Francisco federal court that a class action was the most efficient way to resolve the dispute over facial templates.