 "Meta to pay $1.4 billion as settlement for illegally gathering biometric data from millions of Texans")
Meta Platforms has decided to settle a lawsuit with Texas for $1.4 billion, resolving allegations that the tech giant used facial-recognition technology to gather biometric data from millions of Texans without their consent.
This settlement, announced on Tuesday, is considered the largest of its kind by any state, according to Texas’s legal team.
The lawsuit was filed in 2022 and marked the first significant case under Texas’s biometric privacy law from 2009.
This law stipulates that damages of up to $25,000 can be imposed per violation. The case essentially resolved on accusations that Facebook, under Meta, collected biometric data billions of times from photos and videos uploaded by users through a feature called “Tag Suggestions,” which has since been discontinued.
Meta has expressed satisfaction with the resolution and indicated plans to explore future business investments in Texas, including potential data centre developments. Despite agreeing to the settlement, Meta has not admitted to any wrongdoing.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton emphasized that the settlement demonstrates the state’s dedication to challenging major technology companies and holding them accountable for violating privacy laws and the rights of Texans.
The agreement between Texas and Meta was reached in May, just weeks before a scheduled trial was set to begin in state court. This settlement is not the first time Meta has faced such issues. In 2020, the company agreed to pay $650 million to settle a biometric privacy class action under Illinois’s stringent privacy law, also without admitting to any misconduct.
Meanwhile, Google, owned by Alphabet, is currently involved in a separate lawsuit by Texas over alleged violations of the state’s biometric law.
Meta’s substantial settlement with Texas highlights ongoing concerns and legal challenges surrounding biometric data privacy. The outcome reinforces the importance of regulatory compliance for tech companies and the growing scrutiny of their data collection practices.
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