Disneyland Sued Over Use of Facial Recognition Tech at Park Entrances

Disney is facing a class action lawsuit over the alleged use of facial recognition technology at its park entrances in California without proper disclosure to guests.

A visitor is suing Disneyland for $5 million for allegedly failing to properly disclose the use of facial-recognition technology at park entrances and collecting sensitive data on guests. Summer Christine Duffield of Riverside County filed the lawsuit following a May 10 visit to Disneyland and its sister park, California Adventure.

According to the complaint, Disney allegedly violated privacy, consumer protection, and competition laws by collecting visitors’ biometric information without obtaining meaningful consent.

Disney introduced facial recognition technology at select entrance lanes at Disneyland and California Adventure in April. The company says the system is intended to reduce fraud and make park re-entry faster. According to information published on the company’s website, cameras at certain entrances capture images of visitors that can be converted into unique numerical values using biometric technology.

Disney says that participation in facial recognition is optional and that collected data are deleted after 30 days. However, the lawsuit argues that many visitors agree to facial scans without fully understanding how the technology works or what data is being collected.

According to a report by The Hollywood Reporter, the proposed class action lawsuit accuses Disney of failing to adequately inform guests that photographs taken at park entrances are used to compare visitors’ faces with images captured when they first used a ticket or annual pass.

“Disney does not adequately disclose the use of their biometric collection, so consumers — which almost always include children — have no idea that Disney is collecting this highly sensitive data,” the plaintiff notes in the lawsuit.

In California, businesses are permitted to use facial recognition technology, but they must comply with privacy rules that include disclosure requirements and allowing consumers to limit how their data is used or shared. The lawsuit alleges Disney has failed to provide meaningful notice to guests. While signs featuring a silhouette with a slash through it are displayed at four park entrances to indicate that visitors can avoid facial scanning, the complaint argues that these signs do not provide sufficient information about the technology.

“Guests should be able to expressly opt in to this type of sensitive facial recognition technology with written consent — the onus of privacy rights should not be on the victim,” the plaintiff says in the complaint, according to the news outlet. “Given how sensitive facial recognition data is, explicit written consent should be required to protect the privacy guests at Disney Theme Parks.”

The lawsuit arrives amid a broader national debate over facial recognition technology, privacy, and surveillance. Recently, more than 70 advocacy organizations urged Meta to stop reported plans to introduce facial recognition features into its Ray-Ban smart glasses, citing concerns about privacy and public safety.

Meta’s reported feature, internally known as “Name Tag,” would allegedly allow users to identify people in their field of view and retrieve information about them through the company’s AI assistant. According to reports, engineers have explored versions of the tool that would recognize either people already connected to users on Meta platforms or anyone with a public social media account, including on Instagram.
 

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.