Meta Platforms Inc. has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to settle a lawsuit with the state of Texas, marking the largest settlement ever obtained by a single state.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit, claiming Meta unlawfully collected biometric data from millions of Texans through Facebook’s “Tag Suggestions” feature, which automatically identified faces in photos.
Paxton asserted that this practice violated Texas’ Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act (CUBI), which prohibits collecting biometric data without explicit consent. “Unbeknownst to most Texans, for more than a decade, Meta ran facial recognition software on virtually every face contained in the photographs uploaded to Facebook,” Paxton said.
This $1.4 billion settlement surpasses a similar $650 million payout Meta agreed to in Illinois over comparable allegations. Meta’s spokesperson expressed satisfaction with the settlement and expressed a commitment to expanding business investments in Texas.
Facebook’s facial recognition feature, introduced in 2010, was discontinued in 2021 following rising privacy concerns. Meanwhile, Attorney General Paxton is pursuing a similar lawsuit against Google for alleged biometric data violations in Texas through its services like Google Photos and Google Assistant, which is still ongoing.
