Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has reached a settlement of over $1.4 billion with the social media company Meta (formerly known as Facebook).
“After vigorously pursuing justice for our citizens whose privacy rights were violated by Meta’s use of facial recognition software, I’m proud to announce that we have reached the largest settlement ever obtained from an action brought by a single State,” Paxton said in the press release.
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In early 2022, Paxton initiated a lawsuit against the company, alleging that they had been “unlawfully capturing the biometric data of millions of Texans” without their consent. The suit claimed that Meta’s data collection practices violated Texas’ “Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier” (CUBI) Act as well as the Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
The CUBI Act “forbids companies from capturing biometric identifiers of Texans, including record of face geometry” unless the business properly informs the person that their data is being captured and receives consent from them. Paxton’s lawsuit alleged that Meta’s “Tag Suggestion” feature violated this law by running facial recognition software on photographs uploaded by users.
While the feature was meant to help Facebook users find friends to “tag” in pictures of them, Paxton and other lawyers involved in the suit claimed that that Meta failed to properly explain how the feature worked to its users. According to the terms of the settlement agreement, Meta will pay Texas $1.4 billion over the next five years.
Paxton celebrated the lawsuit as the “largest settlement ever obtained from an action brought by a single State.” He also stated that he considered the suit “a warning to any companies engaged in practices that violate Texans’ privacy rights.”
“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.”