"The panel concluded that the development of a face template using facial-recognition technology without consent… invades an individual’s private affairs and concrete interests," the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said in a court document.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), one of the groups involved with the case, said the ruling will now allow Facebook users to sue the company over its use of face recognition technology.
The ruling is the first decision of a US appellate court directly addressing privacy harms posed by the face recognition technology - which is being increasingly pushed on members of the public without their knowledge and consent, the ACLU said in a statement.