A US district judge said that in any measure, the $650 million settlement of the biometric privacy class action is a landmark result, according to AP

A US federal judge on Sunday pronounced a $650 million settlement for Facebook in a privacy lawsuit that involved one of the largest breaches after the company allegedly collected biometric data and photo facial tags without users’ permission.

Prosecutor James Donato ruled the transaction against the lawsuit related to the privacy invasion and illegal use of consumer data filed in 2015 in Illinois. According to Chicago Tribune sources, CEO Mark Zuckerberg may be required to act within two months unless the court’s verdict is appealed. As many as 1.6 million Facebook users that were impacted have filed for the claims.

In the ruling, the US district judge said that in any measure, the $650 million settlement of the biometric privacy class action is a landmark result, according to the court’s document cited by AP.

Approving the settlement, he further wrote: It is one of the largest settlements ever for a privacy violation, and it will put at least $345 into the hands of every class member interested in being compensated.

The lawsuit was filed by a Chicago-based attorney Jay Edelson, who challenged social network’s data-mining practices.

It will put at least $345 into the hands of every class member interested in being compensated, he wrote, calling it a major win for consumers in the hotly contested area of digital privacy, District Judge James Donato said in an AP report.

In the aftermath of over 5 years of litigation that involved at least three law firms that contested a legal case on behalf of Illinois consumers, the pronounced one of the “largest cash settlement” a firm ever paid against the privacy lawsuit, according to attorney’s statements to Chicago tribune.

Initially, Facebook had agreed to pay nearly $550 million, but an additional $100 million was added by judge Donato.

We are pleased to have reached a settlement so we can move past this matter, which is in the best interest of our community and our shareholders, Facebook, which is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, said in a statement.

Facebook violated Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) after it gathered the facial recognition data without the consumer’s consent. The US state’s law prohibits companies from gathering any biometric data of users such as fingerprints, voiceprints, hand or face geometry, and retinal or iris scans unless the users agree.