Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to settle a lawsuit filed by the state of Texas over privacy violations.
Filed in 2022, the lawsuit accused Meta of illegally collecting the biometric information of millions of Texans without consent, violating the state's Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act and the Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
The alleged violations stem from a Facebook feature introduced in 2011 that automatically identified people in images uploaded to the platform and suggested tags with people's names in photos.
Texas first passed its biometric privacy law in 2009. Under the legislation, each violation could accrue penalties of up to $25,000.
Payout for the landmark $1.4 billion settlement will go to Texas for five years. It is the largest privacy settlement in the state thus far.
"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," Texas Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton said in a statement.
"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. Any abuse of Texans' sensitive data will be met with the full force of the law," he added.
READ ALSO : Meta Faces $13 Billion Fine For Violating Digital Laws With its 'Pay or Consent' Data Privacy Model
Meta's Other Settlements
The Texas settlement is not Meta's first over the past years. In 2020, Meta paid the state of Illinois $550 million in a similar lawsuit over facial recognition.
Meta is currently facing more than a dozen lawsuits filed by the attorneys general of 45 states. The District of Columbia has also accused Meta of luring children and teenagers on Instagram and Facebook and deceiving the public about the safety of its platforms.
"Just like Big Tobacco and vaping companies have done in years past, Meta chose to maximize its profits at the expense of public health, specifically harming the health of the youngest among us," Phil Weiser, Colorado's attorney general, said in a statement.
Furthermore, Meta is facing a lawsuit filed by the relatives of victims of the Uvalde school shooting for facilitating aggressive firearms marketing campaigns on social media.
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