According to sources, Texas claims that Meta has broken state law through the use of automated face recognition. Allegations have been leveled against Facebook and Instagram, which they claim have been automatically biometrically screening submitted images for over ten years.
Facebook has been biometrically analyzing all submitted face images for over a decade without alerting Texans and without obtaining proper consent: The complaint claims that “Facebook’s omnipresent empire was built on deception, lies, and brazen mistreatment of Texans’ privacy rights – all for Facebook’s economic gain,â€
According to the complaint, Facebook not only failed to erase the biometric data it received, despite being obliged by law to do so, but also unlawfully passed it on to other parties without disclosing it.
The lawsuit is called ‘The State of Texas v. Meta Platforms’ and is pending in Harris County District Court under Case No. 22-0121.
Meta denies the charge, saying, “These charges are untrue, and we will firmly defend ourselves.”
Last year Facebook had 20.5 million users in Texas. If the charges are accurate and every Texas Facebook user contributed only one face photograph, the penalty would much outweigh Meta’s stock market worth of about US$600 billion.
