Appeals court puts brakes on Facebook class action notification order

Facebook has been granted an emergency stay in its BIPA “faceprints” suit while an appeals court hears arguments about the suit’s class-action certification, MediaPost reports.

The stay was granted by a panel of three judges from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals just hours after another request for a stay was rejected by U.S. District Court Judge James Donato in the Northern District of California. Facebook is appealing Donato’s ruling allowing the suit to certify as a class action.

“The case is ripe for trial, and Facebook’s last-minute request to derail that is denied,” Donato wrote. He also previously scolded Facebook over a “troubling theme” of misrepresenting previous court orders.

Facebook asked the federal appellate court to stay the proceedings to avoid the irreparable cost to its finances and reputation of issuing notifications of the class action to more than 20 million users of the social media platform. The trial had been set to begin July 9.

Article Topics

Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA)  |  biometrics  |  Facebook  |  facial recognition  |  legislation