SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal judge in San Francisco has approved a $650 million settlement of a privacy lawsuit against Facebook for allegedly using photo face-tagging without the permission of its users. U.S. District Judge James Donato approved the deal Friday in a class-action lawsuit that claimed the California-based social media giant violated an Illinois biometric privacy law. Nearly 1.6 million Illinois residents will receive money. The judge called it one of the largest settlements ever for a privacy violation. Facebook says the settlement is in the best interest of its community and shareholders.

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FILE - This March 29, 2018, file photo shows the Facebook logo on screens at the Nasdaq MarketSite, in New York's Times Square. A federal judge on Friday, Feb. 26, 2021 approved a $650 million settlement of a privacy lawsuit against Facebook for allegedly using photo face-tagging and other biometric data without permission of its users. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

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