Madison Reed Virtual Try-On Tool Captured, Stored Users’ Facial Scans Without Consent, Class Action Says

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A proposed class action lawsuit claims Madison Reed has unlawfully collected without consent consumers’ biometric facial scans through a “virtual try-on” feature on its website.

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The 14-page lawsuit alleges the hair color product company has violated the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) in that the “virtual try-on” tool on Madison-Reed.com collects “complete face geometry scans” without users’ consent. According to the suit, the company has also breached the BIPA by failing to divulge to website visitors how long their biometric information will be stored and when it will be destroyed.

A Madison-Reed.com visitor can preview how various hair color products will look on their own hair by uploading a photo to the website or clicking the “Try On Live” button found alongside certain items, the case explains. Upon doing so, the virtual tool “automatically activates [the user’s] webcam, so that his or her real-time image appears immediately,” the complaint says. The shopper is then able to view the product overlaid onto either their full face or half of their face for comparison, the filing relays.

The facial data collected by Madison Reed—considered a biometric identifier under the BIPA—is unlawfully obtained “unbeknownst to the website user” and without the accompaniment of required statutory disclosures, the lawsuit claims. For one, the defendant’s privacy policy lacks details about how a visitor’s biometric information is collected, used, and stored, the suit says. In addition, Madison Reed fails to provide a written policy outlining how long it will retain users’ biometric data and if it will destroy the information, the case shares.

The plaintiff, an Illinois resident, used the “virtual try-on” feature on Madison-Reed.com in February 2021 to preview how certain hair color products would look on her hair, the complaint says. In doing so, the woman’s facial geometry was captured and stored by the defendant without her consent, the filing alleges.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone residing in Illinois whose biometric data was collected by Madison Reed through the “virtual try-on” tool on Madison-Reed.com.

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