The state of Texas reached a $1.4 billion settlement with Meta on Tuesday over the use of facial recognition scans, according to a press release.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Mehta in February 2022, alleging that the company violated the Texas Acquisition and Use of Biometric Identifiers Act (CUBI) and the Unfair Trade Practices Act (DTPA) by storing facial recognition data obtained by scanning photos on Facebook. according to The settlement is the largest ever obtained by a single state and attorney general in history, according to court documents. according to To the press release.
“After vigorously pursuing justice for citizens whose privacy rights were violated by Meta’s use of facial recognition software, I am proud to have reached the largest settlement ever obtained in a lawsuit brought by a single state,” Paxton said in a press release. “This historic settlement demonstrates our determination to stand up to the world’s largest technology companies and hold them accountable for breaking the law and violating the privacy rights of Texans. Any misuse of Texans’ sensitive data will be met with the full force of the law.” (Related: Meta finally lifts lingering restrictions on Trump months after November)
Mehta denied any wrongdoing. according to Facebook stopped using its facial recognition software in 2021, according to final settlement documents. according to To that website.
“We are pleased to have resolved this matter and look forward to exploring future opportunities to deepen our business investments in Texas, including data center development,” a Meta spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
According to the press release, the “tag suggestions” feature was introduced to Facebook in 2011 to help users more easily find people to “tag” in photos. The feature used facial recognition technology to scan faces, but Meta allegedly violated CUBI by failing to warn users about how the technology worked or ask for their permission.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg testifies before the Senate Judiciary Committee at the Dirksen Senator’s Office Building in Washington, DC on January 31, 2024. The committee heard testimony from the heads of major technology companies about the dangers of child sexual exploitation on social media. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“The scope of Facebook’s misconduct is staggering,” Paxton said in the 2021 lawsuit. “Facebook has repeatedly collected Texans’ biometric information without their consent not hundreds, not thousands, not millions but billions of times, all in violation of CUBI and DTPA.”
Meta has come under scrutiny before for privacy violations, with shareholders filing a class action lawsuit in 2018 alleging that the company misused and failed to protect user information during a 2015 data breach that put 87 million users at risk. according to The case was dismissed in 2020 but was resurrected in a federal appeals court in 2023 and then taken up by the Supreme Court as of June 2024, according to Reuters. according to To Reuters.
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