If you’ve used TikTok — or its predecessor Musical.ly — before Oct. 1, you may be eligible for compensation as part of a $92 million settlement against the app.
TikTok users received a notification from the app Monday about submitting a claim for compensation. Some expressed confusion on social media and questioned whether the notification was part of a larger scam.
The settlement is real. TikTok parent company ByteDance agreed in February to pay $92 million as part of a class-action payout to settle allegations of harvesting personal data from users without their consent.
As part of the settlement, which affects an estimated 89 million TikTok users, the company would have to change and disclose its data collection practices.
What is this lawsuit?
The settlement is the result of an amalgamation of 21 lawsuits, many of which were filed on behalf of minors.
Documents filed in the U.S. District Court in Illinois allege that TikTok uses a “complex system of artificial intelligence to recognize facial features in users’ videos,” and it also analyzes faces to “determine the user’s age, race/ethnicity, and gender … to recommend content and profiles for the user to follow.”
“By utilizing this private and biometric information,” the suit continues, “TikTok maintains a competitive advantage over other social media apps and profits from its user of improperly obtained data, all while failing to comply with the minimum requirements for handling users’ biometric data established by BIPA.”eThe plaintiffsit alle s that TikTok violated the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA), which guarantees individuals the right to take action against companies that collect biometric data without consent. Under BIPA, companies can’t use facial recognition to identify users or add them to a database of “faceprints” without explicit permission, according tog to the Cardozo School of Law’s journal, t Caardozo Law Revie.
Illinois is the only state that allows people to sue companies for violating biometric privacy laws.
The suit also claims that TikTok mined user information from draft videos that were never posted.
What’s changing?
TikTok has denied all allegations, but settled for the payout to prevent the case from going to trial.
“While we disagree with the assertions, rather than go through lengthy litigation, we’d like to focus our efforts on building a safe and joyful experience for the TikTok community,” the company said in a statement following the February settlement agreement.
TikTok will delete certain swaths of user data as part of the settlement. The court documents did not disclose whether the company would specifically delete already collected facial recognition data, like Facebook said earlier this month it would do, but TikTok will not continue collecting biometric data.
Under the settlement, TikTok agreed to stop recording users’ facial features and other biometric information, stop tracking user location with GPS, stop collecting information from user drafts, and no longer store or transmit U.S. user data outside of the country — unless the company discloses so in its privacy policies.
TikTok also agreed to no longer disclose users’ personal data to third parties like Facebook and Google, and to delete unposted, unsaved user-generated videos from its servers.
Who is eligible for the settlement? How much will you actually get?
Though parent company ByteDance is set to pay a hefty settlement, individuals likely won’t walk away with that much.
U.S. residents who used TikTok before Oct. 1 are eligible to submit a claim. However, Illinois residents are eligible for a larger share of the settlement pool.
Each individual is eligible for one share of the divided settlement. Illinois residents can receive six shares of the divided payments.
Parents can submit claims on behalf of their minor children.
After attorney fees, which are “not to exceed 33.33 percent” of the fund, if everyone eligible submits a claim, most will only receive about $0.96. Illinois residents can get up to $5.75.
But the filed documents note the claim rate will affect individual payouts. If only 1.5 percent of eligible TikTok users submit a claim, then Illinois residents can receive $383.33 and non-Illinois residents can receive $63.89.
If 20 percent of eligible users submit a claim, then Illinois residents can receive $28.75 and non-Illinois residents can receive $4.79.
How do you submit a claim?
To submit a claim, visit the TikTok data privacy settlement website.
Claims must be submitted by Mar. 1, 2022.
Settlement class members can also object to the settlement by writing a letter to the court by Jan, 31, 2022.
Payments will only be made after the court grants final approval of the settlement during a hearing scheduled for May 18, 2022. If the court approves it, then payments will be made electronically via PayPal, Venmo or prepaid Mastercard.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
