Duet Dating App BIPA Arbitration: Were Your Privacy Rights Violated?
Last Updated on October 1, 2026
Investigation Complete
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If you still have questions about your rights, contact an attorney in your area as there is a time limit for filing all lawsuits. The information on this page was posted when the investigation began and is now for reference only.
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At A Glance
- This Alert Affects:
- Anyone who, while in Illinois, completed a Duet profile verification by allowing the app to scan their face through their phone’s camera.
- What’s Going On?
- Attorneys working with ClassAction.org believe that the company behind the Duet dating app may have violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act by collecting users’ facial scans without providing required notice and obtaining their informed, written consent.
- What Am I Signing Up For, Exactly?
- You’re signing up for what’s known as “mass arbitration,” which involves hundreds or thousands of consumers bringing individual arbitration claims against the same company, at the same time, over the same issue. This is different from class action litigation and takes place outside of court.
- Does This Cost Anything?
- It costs nothing to sign up, and the attorneys will only get paid if they win your claim.
- How Much Could I Get?
- While there are no guarantees, consumers who take action could have claims worth up to $5,000.
Attorneys working with ClassAction.org believe that the company behind the Duet dating app may violate the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act by collecting and potentially distributing users’ biometric data, including facial scans, without consent.
Specifically, the attorneys believe that the dating app may not have properly informed or obtained written consent from users in Illinois before beginning to collect their data for its own use.
What Is the Biometric Information Privacy Act?
The Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) is a state law put into effect on October 3, 2008 with the aim of protecting residents’ personal biometric identifiers—which it defines as scans of face and hand geometry, retina and iris scans, fingerprints and voiceprints—from unauthorized use. According to the act, these personal identifiers require specific and strict protection because they cannot be changed if they are compromised in any way.
The BIPA stipulates that all “private entities,” a term encompassing individuals to private companies, cannot collect or use any of the above-listed biometric identifiers in the state of Illinois without first:
- Informing the person in writing of the collection, storage or other use of their biometric data, along with the purpose for and duration of this collection, storage and/or use;
- Receiving written consent from the person for the collection, storage or use of their biometric data for the given purposes and duration of time; and
- Publishing a publicly available retention policy regarding how and when any collected biometric information will be permanently destroyed.
However, the attorneys believe that Duet’s profile verification process—namely, the photo verification step—may violate BIPA regulations. They claim the dating app may not provide, in advance, any written notice of the facial scan collection, request written consent from users before performing the scan, disclose to users what the facial data will be used for or offer a method and timeline for how it will eventually be destroyed.
What Am I Signing Up For? Is This a Lawsuit?
You are not signing up for a lawsuit, but rather a process known as mass arbitration. This is a relatively new legal technique that, like a class action lawsuit, allows a large group of people to take action and seek compensation from a company over an alleged wrongdoing. Here is a quick explanation of mass arbitration from our blog:
“[M]ass arbitration occurs when hundreds or thousands of consumers file individual arbitration claims against the same company over the same issue at the same time. The aim of a mass arbitration proceeding is to grant relief on a large scale (similar to a class action lawsuit) for those who sign up.”
Duet’s terms of service contain an arbitration clause and a class action waiver, which require users to resolve any disputes with the company via arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution that occurs outside of court before a neutral arbitrator, rather than a judge or jury. For this reason, attorneys working with ClassAction.org have decided to handle this matter through mass arbitration rather than a class action lawsuit.
How Much Does This Cost?
It costs nothing to sign up, and you’ll only need to pay if the attorneys win money on your behalf. Their payment will come as a percentage of your award.
If they don’t win your claim, you don’t pay.
How Much Money Could I Get?
There are no guarantees as to how much money you could get or whether your claim will be successful. However, affected Duet users could have claims worth up to $5,000 under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act.
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