Amazon deployed a facial-scanning tool called “Virtual Try-On” to help sell makeup and glasses while allegedly ignoring strict privacy laws. The Jeff Bezos company captured the unique facial geometry of over 100,000 people in Illinois without providing required legal notices, obtaining written consent, or publishing a plan to delete the data.
Because facial geometry is generally unalterable, this unauthorized collection creates a permanent privacy risk for every user involved.
Please keep reading to discover how this case exposes the systemic ways giant corporations prioritize sales figures over your most personal biological information.
The Digital Dragnet 🛑
Amazon turned the smartphones of thousands of Illinois residents into sophisticated biometric scanners. Through its mobile site and app, the “Virtual Try-On” (VTO) feature allowed customers to see how lipstick or eyewear looked on their own faces. While this felt like a convenient shopping tool, the software behind the curtain was busy mapping the unique physical measurements of users’ faces.
This facial geometry constitutes a “biometric identifier.” Unlike a password or a credit card number, you can never change your face. If this data leaks, the privacy harm is permanent and impossible to fix. Amazon bypassed the fundamental safeguards designed to protect this sensitive information, treating the private biological markers of its customers as just another data point to fuel its retail engine.
Timeline of the Privacy Breach 📅
| Date | Event |
| September 7, 2016 | The beginning of the period where Amazon allegedly began violating user privacy. |
| 2019 – 2022 | Users like Antonella Ortiz Colosi repeatedly use the facial scanning tool for makeup products. |
| 2020 | Tanya Svoboda uses the virtual tool to shop for lipstick, unaware her facial data is being captured. |
| September 2021 | The first legal challenge is filed in Illinois state court to hold Amazon accountable. |
| May 2022 | The lawsuit expands as more victims join the action against the retail giant. |
| August 2024 | Illinois lawmakers change the law to limit how much companies have to pay for these violations. |
| December 17, 2025 | High-level judges rule that the victims can move forward together as a massive class-action group. |
The Neoliberal Incentive 💰
Under the current system of profit-maximization, companies see “friction” (pesky stuff like asking for written permission or explaining data deletion schedules) as a barrier to a sale. Amazon’s decision to deploy this technology without the required Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) disclosures reflects a calculated choice to prioritize a seamless “user experience” over legal compliance and human rights.
This is the logical result of a “move fast and break things” corporate culture. The cost of a legal settlement is often viewed as a simple business expense rather than a moral boundary when the goal is to dominate the market.
By failing to publish a data retention schedule, Amazon left users in the dark about how long the company intended to keep their facial maps or when, if ever, they would be destroyed.
Regulatory Capture and the Shield of Complexity 🏗️
The legal battle highlights how difficult it is for an average person to challenge a trillion-dollar entity. Amazon argued that the case was too complex to handle as a group, suggesting that each person should have to prove where they were standing when they used their phone. This tactic serves to overwhelm the legal system and discourage individual action.
Corporations often use their massive resources to build “black box” software that is nearly impossible for outsiders to understand. The victims in this case had to spend over $100,000 just on expert discovery to figure out how Amazon’s software actually worked. Without the ability to sue as a massive group, the cost of holding a corporation accountable would be higher than any individual could ever afford.
Eroding the Right to be Anonymous 👤
The impact of these violations extends beyond a single app. When a dominant corporation normalizes the unauthorized collection of facial data, it erodes the very concept of privacy in public and digital spaces. This creates a “Social” and “Governance” crisis where the public loses control over their own bodies.
This case represents the system working exactly as intended because:
- Corporate Ethics: Minimized in favor of “trying on” lipstick to increase conversion rates.
- Wealth Disparity: A giant corporation uses its legal might to try and pick apart the claims of everyday people.
- Economic Fallout: The risk of data breaches is shifted from the company’s balance sheet to the individual’s lifelong identity.
💡 Explore Corporate Misconduct by Category
Corporations harm people every day — from wage theft to pollution. Learn more by exploring key areas of injustice.
- 💀 Product Safety Violations — When companies risk lives for profit.
- 🌿 Environmental Violations — Pollution, ecological collapse, and unchecked greed.
- 💼 Labor Exploitation — Wage theft, worker abuse, and unsafe conditions.
- 🛡️ Data Breaches & Privacy Abuses — Misuse and mishandling of personal information.
- 💵 Financial Fraud & Corruption — Lies, scams, and executive impunity.
