Snapchat's Lenses feature allows users to modify their selfies with animated filters and add effects like floppy dog ears or a stream of rainbow vomit. But Illinois residents Jose Martinez and Malcolm Neal did not want to sacrifice their biometric data privacy simply for laughs.
A Snapchat spokesperson referred to the plaintiffs' accusations as "frivolous," insisting that the company is "very careful not to collect, store or obtain any biometric information or identifiers about our community."
According to Snapchat, "the magic behind Lenses" is a simple object recognition algorithm, rather than sophisticated facial recognition technology.
"[Object recognition] lets us know that a nose is a nose or an eye is an eye. But object recognition isn't the same as facial recognition. While Lenses can recognize faces in general, they can't recognize a specific face," the app's privacy policy states.
The law has been a headache for big social media companies. Facebook and Google have also been sued in the state over facial recognition software that allows users to accurately tag photos in Facebook Moments and Google Photos.
A case against Facebook is proceeding in a federal district court in San Francisco.
