Frequently Asked Questions

The  Notice explains the lawsuit, the Settlement, your rights, what payments are available, and how to get them.

The Honorable James Donato of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California is in charge of this class action. The lawsuit is known as Colombo v. YouTube, LLC and Google LLC, No. 3:22-cv-06987-JD.

A YouTube user in Illinois sued Defendants claiming that YouTube’s Face Blur feature involved facial recognition technology and violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”). BIPA is an Illinois state law that prohibits the collection and storage, of “biometric data” without first giving notice and getting consent. Defendants deny all allegations of wrongdoing and liability and further contend that Face Blur is a feature designed to protect the privacy of individuals shown in YouTube videos. For more information, please visit the "Case Documents"  page of this Settlement website.

In a class action lawsuit, one or more people called “Class Representatives” sue on behalf of other people who have similar claims. These people together are a “Settlement Class” or “Settlement Class Members.” One court resolves the issues in the case for everyone in the Settlement Class – except for those people who choose to exclude themselves from the Settlement Class. In this case, Nathan Colombo is the Class Representative. He is from Illinois and claims that he uploaded a video to YouTube on which Face Blur was run.

The Court has not decided who should win the case. Instead both sides agreed to a settlement. That way both sides avoid the cost and risks of trial, and Settlement Class Members will get guaranteed payments now whereas they might otherwise get nothing or might get payments only years from now, if at all.

Defendants’ records were used to notify some likely Settlement Class Members via email. Regardless of whether you received such an email, you might be part of the Settlement Class if, while residing in Illinois, you uploaded a video to YouTube on which Face Blur was run.

Some users are excluded because they work for Defendants or are related to the judges or lawyers in the case. The Settlement Agreement has a list of the categories of people who are excluded: (a) any Judge, Magistrate Judge, or mediator presiding over this lawsuit and members of their families; (b) Defendants, Defendants’ subsidiaries, parent companies, successors, predecessors, and any entity in which Defendants or their parents have a controlling interest and their current or former employees, officers, and directors; (c) persons who properly execute and file a timely request for exclusion from the Settlement Class; (d) persons whose claims in this matter have been finally adjudicated on the merits or otherwise released; (e) Plaintiff’s counsel and Defendants’ counsel (as identified in the Notice); and (f) the legal representatives, successors, and assigns of any such excluded persons.

If you are still not sure whether you are included, you can get free help by calling the Settlement Administrator at 1- 888-777-6502, or by calling the lawyers appointed to represent Settlement Class Members in this case, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP (“Robbins Geller”) of San Francisco, California at (800) 449-4900 and Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman, PLLC (“Milberg”) of Chicago, Illinois at (866) 252-0878. Please do not contact the Court or Defendants.

Defendants have agreed to pay $6,022,500 to settle this case. If the Settlement is approved by the Court, that money will go into a “Settlement Fund” to pay for everything related to the Settlement. Most of the money will go to Settlement Class Members who submit valid Claim Forms (please see Frequently Asked Question 10). The rest will be used to pay the Court-approved costs of notifying people about the Settlement, the lawyers’ fees, an award to the Class Representative who helped bring the lawsuit, and certain taxes.

Payments will likely be approximately $200 per Settlement Class Member who timely submits a valid Claim Form. The exact amount of payment per claim will depend on how many Settlement Class Members file valid claims and the amount of fees, expenses, and the Class Representative award approved by the Court to be deducted from the Settlement Fund. This Settlement Website will periodically be updated to provide the estimated payment amount based on the number of participating Settlement Class Members.

If you are a Settlement Class Member and want to receive a payment, you must complete and submit a valid Claim Form no later than November 30, 2025. Please file your claim electronically here. Not only is submitting online easier and more secure, but it is completely free and takes only minutes. You can get payment by a check or electronically through Zelle, PayPal, or direct deposit.

If you want to get a paper copy of the Claim Form, please click [here] or call toll-free, 1-888-777-6502.

We can’t give you a date yet. Payments will be made about two months after the Court approves the Settlement. The Court will consider final approval of the Settlement on December 30, 2025. Even if the Court approves the Settlement there may be appeals. It is always uncertain whether and when appeals can be resolved, and resolving them can take more than a year.

All checks will expire and become void 90 days after they are issued. If there is any money left because of uncashed checks or returned electronic payments, you may get a second payment if you filed a valid claim. If there is money left after the second round of payments, that money may be donated to the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.

This Settlement Website will be updated to inform Settlement Class Members of the progress of the Settlement. Please be patient.

Unless you timely exclude yourself by December 9, 2025, you are staying in the Settlement Class. That means that if the Court approves the Settlement, you are giving up the right to file your own lawsuit against, or seek further money from, Defendants and other related parties for any of the issues or claims in the case – whether or not you are currently aware of those claims.

The specific scope of the claims you are releasing is in Paragraph 1.24 of the Settlement Agreement, which is available through the “Case Documents” link on this Settlement Website. If you have any questions, you can talk to the lawyers listed in Frequently Asked Question 14 for free, or you can, of course, talk to your own lawyer if you have questions about what the release means.

If you are a Settlement Class Member and do nothing (meaning you don’t submit a Claim Form and don’t exclude yourself), you will not get anything from this Settlement and you will release your claims as explained above.

The Court has appointed the law firms of Robbins Geller 800-449-4900 and Milberg 866-252-0878 to represent you and all Settlement Class Members. These firms are called “Class Counsel.” The law firms are experienced in handling similar class action cases. More information about Robbins Geller and Milberg, their practices, and their lawyers’ experience is available at www.rgrdlaw.com and www.milberg.com.

They believe, after fighting with Defendants in court for over two years, that the Settlement Agreement is fair, reasonable, and in the best interests of the Settlement Class. You will not be separately charged for these lawyers. If you want to be represented by your own lawyer in this case, you may hire one at your expense.

The Court will determine how much Class Counsel will be paid for attorneys’ fees and expenses in this case. The amounts will be paid from the $6,022,500 Settlement Fund. Class Counsel will apply for an attorney’s fee award of no more than 25% of the Settlement Fund, plus expenses.

Class Counsel will also ask the Court to approve an award of up to $5,000 to compensate the Class Representative for his services on behalf of the Settlement Class.

Class Counsel’s application for an award of attorneys' fees, expenses, and the Class Representative award will be made available on the “Case Documents” page of this Settlement website on the date it is filed or as quickly thereafter as possible.

To exclude yourself from the Settlement Class, and no longer be part of the Settlement, you must mail or email a letter stating that you want to be excluded from the Settlement Class in Colombo v. YouTube, LLC and Google LLC, No. 3:22-cv-06987-JD. Your request for exclusion must include your name, address, email address, and your personal non-electronic signature. If your email address is different than the email address associated with your YouTube account, please also include an email address associated with your account. You must mail or email your exclusion request no later than December 9, 2025 to: YouTube Biometric Privacy Settlement Administrator at: [email protected] & P.O. Box 301134, Los Angeles, CA 90030-1134. You must make this request for exclusion on an individual basis, exclusions on a “mass” or “class” basis are not permitted in this case.

No. Unless you exclude yourself, you give up any right to sue Defendants for the claims being resolved by this Settlement. If you have a pending case against Defendants, please speak with your attorney immediately.

No. If you exclude yourself, you will not receive any payment.

You can comment on, or object to, the Settlement, Class Counsel’s request for attorneys' fees, expenses, and/or an award for the Class Representative.

You can ask the Court to deny approval of the Settlement. You cannot ask the Court to order a different settlement; the Court can only approve or reject the Settlement. If the Court denies approval, no payments will be made now, and the litigation will continue. If that is what you want to happen, you must object.

Any objection to the proposed Settlement must be in writing. If you file a written objection before the deadline, you may, but don’t have to, appear at the Final Approval Hearing. If you want to appear, you can do so yourself or through your own attorney. If you appear through your own attorney, you are responsible for hiring and paying that attorney.

All written objections must contain the following:

• The name and case number of this lawsuit (Colombo v. YouTube, LLC and Google LLC, No. 3:22-cv-06987-JD).
• Your full name, mailing address, and email address.
• If you use a different email address for your YouTube account; please also provide that information.
• An explanation of why you believe you are a Settlement Class Member.
• A statement that identifies whether you are objecting only on your own behalf, on behalf of a subsection of the Settlement Class, or on behalf of the Settlement Class as a whole.
• All reasons for your objection or comment, including all citations to legal authority and evidence supporting  the objection.
• Whether you intend to personally appear and/or testify at the Final Approval Hearing (either personally or through counsel), and what witnesses you will ask to speak.
• The name and contact information of any and all attorneys representing, advising, and/or assisting you, including any counsel who may be entitled to compensation for any reason related to your objection or comment, who must enter an appearance with the Court in  accordance with the Local Rules.
• Your handwritten or electronically imaged signature. An attorney’s signature, or typed signature, is not sufficient.

To be considered by the Court, your comment or objection must be received by the Court either by mailing it to the Class Action Clerk, United States District Court for the Northern District of California, Phillip Burton Federal Building & United States Courthouse, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, California 94102, or by filing it electronically or in person at any location of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. To be considered, your comment or objection must be filed as described above before December 9, 2025.

Objecting means that you disagree with some aspect of the Settlement and think the Court should not approve the Settlement. An objection, or a comment, allows your views to be heard in court. You can object only if you stay in the Settlement Class.

Excluding yourself from the Settlement Class means that you are no longer a Settlement Class Member and do not want the Settlement to apply to you. If you exclude yourself, you lose any right to receive any payments or benefits from the Settlement or to object to the Settlement because the case no longer affects you, but retain the right to sue Defendants on your own at your own expense.

The Court is scheduled to hold the Final Approval Hearing on December 30, 2025, at 10:00 a.m., in Courtroom 11 of the Phillip Burton Federal Building & United States Courthouse, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, 19th Floor, San Francisco, California. The hearing may be rescheduled to a different date or time or location without another notice to Settlement Class Members. Please review this Settlement Website for any updated information regarding the Final Approval Hearing.

At the Final Approval Hearing, the Court will consider whether the Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate. If there are objections, the Court will consider them. The Court may listen to people who appear at the hearing and who have provided notice of their intent to appear at the hearing. The Court may also consider Class Counsel’s application for attorneys’ fees, expenses, and the award to the Class Representative.

No. Class Counsel will answer any questions the Court may have. You may attend at your own expense if you wish. If you submit a written objection or comment, you do not have to come to the Court to talk about it. As long as you submit your written objection or comment on time, and follow the requirements above, the Court will consider it.

You may also pay your own attorney to attend, but it is not required.

Yes. You may ask the Court for permission to speak at the Final Approval Hearing. At the hearing, the Court may hear any objections and arguments concerning the fairness of the Settlement and/or Class Counsel’s request for attorneys’ fees, expenses, and the Class Representative award.

To do so, you must include in your objection or comment a statement saying that it is your “Notice of Intent to Appear in Colombo v. YouTube, LLC and Google LLC, No. 3:22-cv-06987-JD.” It must include your name, address, email, telephone number, and signature as well as the name and address of your lawyer, if one is appearing for you. Your submission and notice of intent to appear must be filed with the Court and received no later than December 9, 2025.

You cannot speak at the hearing if you exclude yourself from the Settlement Class.

The Notice summarizes the proposed Settlement. More details are in the Stipulation of Class Action Settlement, in the Court’s Orders, and other relevant documents, which are available on the "Case Documents" page of this Settlement website.

You can also get information about this case by accessing the Court docket, for a fee, through the Court’s Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) system at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov  or by visiting the office of the Clerk of the Court for the United States District Court for the Northern District of California, 450 Golden Gate Avenue, San Francisco, California 94102 between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding Court holidays.

You may also contact the Settlement Administrator at 1-888-777-6502 or write to YouTube Biometric Privacy Settlement Administrator at P.O. Box 301134, Los Angeles, CA 90030-1134, or call Class Counsel Robbins Geller (800-449-4900) and Milberg (866-252-0878).

PLEASE DO NOT TELEPHONE DEFENDANTS, THE COURT, OR THE COURT CLERK’S OFFICE TO INQUIRE ABOUT THIS SETTLEMENT OR THE CLAIM PROCESS.

All questions regarding the Settlement or claims process should be directed to the Settlement Administrator or to Class Counsel.