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Facebook said Wednesday that it had reached a $550 million settlement in principle related to a class action lawsuit that claimed it illegally collected and stored biometric data for millions of users without their consent.

The lawsuit began in 2015, when Illinois users accused Facebook of violating the state's Biometric Information Privacy Act in collecting biometric data.

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Facebook was alleged to have accomplished this through its "Tag Suggestions" feature, which allowed users to recognize their Facebook friends from previously uploaded photos.

In a statement, the law firms Edelson, Robbins Geller and Labaton Sucharow said the plaintiffs will ask a federal judge to give preliminary approval for the settlement.