Meta has reached a $1.4 billion settlement with the state of Texas, closing the books on the state’s claim that the social media giant captured and used Texas citizens’ personal biometric data without the authorization required by law.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says the settlement is the largest ever obtained by a state against a corporation and involves the use of facial recognition software. Paxton said this is the first lawsuit brought and the first settlement obtained under Texas’s “Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier” Act.
“This historic settlement demonstrates our commitment to standing up to the world’s biggest technology companies and holding them accountable for breaking the law and violating Texans’ privacy rights,” Paxton said. “Any abuse of Texans’ sensitive data will be met with the full force of the law.”
The lawsuit goes back to February 2022. The complaint alleged that Meta’s data collection practices violated Texas's "Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier" Act (“CUBI”) and the Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
Meta shut down its facial recognition data collection in 2021.
At issue, ‘Tag Suggestions’
The lawsuit was filed in response to Meta’s 2011 introduction of a new feature, initially called Tag Suggestions, that it claimed would improve the user experience by making it easier for users to “tag” photographs with the names of people in the photo. The suit charged that Meta automatically activated this feature for all Texans without explaining how it worked.
The suit claimed Meta ran facial recognition software on virtually every face in the photographs uploaded to Facebook, capturing records of the facial geometry of the people who were depicted.
The state contends that this was a violation of CUBI, which forbids companies from capturing biometric identifiers of Texans, including records of face geometry unless the business first informs the person and receives their consent to capture the biometric identifier.
Paxton said Meta has agreed to pay the state $1.4 billion over five years. It’s unclear, however, whether any Texas consumers will receive compensation.
