Meta to Pay Texas $1.4 Billion Due to Privacy Violations

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has agreed to a $1.4 billion settlement with Texas to resolve allegations that it collected and used biometric data from millions of Texas residents without their consent.

The settlement, announced by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, is the largest ever for a privacy violation case brought by a single state in the United States. The case revolves around Meta's use of facial recognition technology, specifically the “Tag Suggestions,” which Facebook rolled out in 2011 and automatically enabled for all users.

Facebook was found guilty of capturing and storing biometric information from users’ photos and videos without their explicit consent or properly explaining how the feature works. This violates Texas' “Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier” (“CUBI”) privacy law and the “Deceptive Trade Practices Act.”

According to the lawsuit, Meta's unauthorized data collection practices affected millions of users. “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,” said Attorney General Paxton.

It’s worth noting that, in Nov 2021, Meta announced its intention to cease its facial recognition feature. As per its official statement, “We're shutting down the Face Recognition system on Facebook. People who've opted in will no longer be automatically recognized in photos and videos, and we will delete more than a billion people's individual facial recognition templates.”

This news comes at a time when social media companies are facing increasing pressure to alter their data collection practices. Earlier this year, the US House of Representatives passed a bill forcing ByteDance to either divest TikTok or be banned, citing national security concerns in regards to the China-owned social media giant collecting data on American citizens.