ALBAWABA - A record-breaking settlement of $1.4 billion was reached between Meta and the state of Texas on Tuesday, NYT reports, in response to charges that the parent company of Facebook and Instagram had unlawfully gathered facial recognition data from millions of users, deemed a violation of state law.
By automatically labeling the faces of users on its website, Meta allegedly violates the privacy laws of the state of Texas, according to a lawsuit that was filed in 2022. With Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas, noting that the deal is the biggest privacy settlement ever reached by a state in the United States.
The case that was filed in Texas in 2022 alleged that Meta was in breach of a state law that forbids the collection or sale of a resident's biometric information, such as their face or fingerprints, without the individual's permission, according to AP.
Attorney Paxton stated that “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,” adding that “any abuse of Texans’ sensitive data will be met with the full force of the law.”
“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, capturing records of the facial geometry of the people depicted,” Paxton highlights.
In 2021, the company issued an announcement that it would be discontinuing its face-recognition system and erasing the faceprints of over one billion individuals, according to CNBC. This decision was made in response to rising concerns over the technology and its potential for abuse by various entities, including governments, law enforcement, and others.
Meta commented on the settlement in a statement saying “we are pleased to resolve this matter, and look forward to exploring future opportunities to deepen our business investments in Texas, including potentially developing data centers.”
