Meta agreed to settle a lawsuit accusing the company of illegally using facial recognition technology. The suit alleges that Meta used the technology to collect the biometric data of millions of Texans without their consent. The deal marks the largest financial settlement ever paid to a nation.
A lawsuit and was the first major case brought under the state’s Seizure or Use of Biometric Identifier Act, which went into effect in 2009. One provision of that law calls for fines of up to $25,000 per violation and accuses Texas Methane of violating the law “billions of times.” ” through photos and videos uploaded to Facebook by its users and tagged without their consent.
In addition, the original lawsuit would have resulted in an additional $10,000 for the alleged violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. In other words, Meta saved a bunch of money, given the number of alleged violations and the maximum financial penalties of $35,000 each.
🚨BREAKING NEWS: We’ve reached a $1.4 billion settlement with Meta to end the company’s practice of capturing and using the personal biometric data of millions of Texans without authorization as required by law.
The settlement is the largest ever obtained from an action… pic.twitter.com/AkOppAGO0K
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) July 30, 2024
spokesperson for We are pleased to resolve the issue and the company is “exploring future opportunities to deepen our business investments in Texas, including potentially growing data centers.” However, the company continues to deny any wrongdoing .
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is taking something of a victory lap, declaring in an official statement that the state is fully committed to “standing up to the world’s largest technology companies and holding them accountable for violating the law and violating privacy rights.” Texas and Meta reached the settlement just weeks before the trial began.
“Facebook will no longer use people and their children for profit at the expense of their own safety and well-being,” Paxton said when the lawsuit was filed. “This is yet another example of Big Tech’s deceptive business practices and it must stop.”
This isn’t the first time Meta has had to pay the government big bucks over alleged biometric data collection. Company in 2020 to settle a similar class action lawsuit. That lawsuit alleged that the company violated privacy laws that require companies to obtain express consent before collecting users’ biometric data. Once again, Meta denied any wrongdoing.
