Disneyland Faces $5M Class Action Over Facial Recognition at Park Entrances

Disneyland is being sued for $5 million in a class action lawsuit over its use of facial recognition technology at park entrances in Anaheim, California, without proper disclosure. Plaintiff Summer Christine Duffield of Riverside County filed the lawsuit after visiting Disneyland and California Adventure on May 10, alleging violations of privacy, consumer protection, and competition laws by collecting biometric information without meaningful consent. Disney introduced the technology at select entrance lanes in April, stating it aims to reduce fraud and speed re-entry, with cameras capturing images converted into numerical biometric data. The company claims participation is optional and data is deleted after 30 days, but the lawsuit argues that visitors, including children, are not adequately informed about the data collection. Signs with a silhouette and slash are displayed at four entrances to indicate opt-out options, but the complaint says these do not provide sufficient information. The lawsuit calls for explicit written consent for such sensitive technology. This case arrives amid a national debate on facial recognition and privacy, with over 70 advocacy groups recently urging Meta to halt plans for facial recognition in Ray-Ban smart glasses, a feature internally called "Name Tag" that could identify people via Meta's AI assistant.