SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge Monday denied Facebook’s bid to have a set of class actions brought over a photo tagging feature thrown out, ruling that plaintiffs have alleged concrete violations of their privacy rights under the test laid out in Spokeo.

U.S. District Judge James Donato of the Northern District of California based his decision denying Facebook’s motion to dismiss in large part on the language of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). He wrote that the law’s provisions leave “little question that the Illinois legislature codified a right of privacy in personal biometric information.”