Meta agrees to pay $1.4 billion settlement to Texas over social networking site's facial recognition technology that harvested biometric data of millions

Meta has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to settle a lawsuit filed by the state of Texas over allegations that the company used facial recognition technology to obtain biometric data from users' social media posts. The $1.4 billion settlement is the largest ever awarded in a single state lawsuit.

Attorney General Ken Paxton Secures $1.4 Billion Settlement with Meta Over Its Unauthorized Capture of Personal Biometric Data In Largest Settlement Ever Obtained From An Action Brought By A Single State | Office of the Attorney General

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Meta in February 2022, alleging that the company illegally obtained biometric information from millions of people without obtaining informed consent, as required by Texas law.

The problem was a feature that Meta implemented in 2011 under the name 'Tag Suggestions,' which was intended to improve the user experience by allowing them to easily tag people in photos.

Making Photo Tagging Easier | Facebook

But without explaining exactly how the feature would work, Meta implemented it and ran it, running facial recognition software against faces in photos uploaded to Facebook to obtain information about people's faces, without most people's knowledge.

Texas has a law called the Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act (UCBI), which requires that individuals be notified and given consent before their biometric data can be collected and used. Attorney General Paxton claims that Meta knew about the existence of the UCBI law when collecting the information.

Two years after the lawsuit was filed, the state of Texas and Meta reached a settlement in July 2024. Under the terms of the settlement, Meta will pay the state of Texas $1.4 billion over the next five years.

'I have fought tirelessly to seek justice for Meta's use of facial recognition software to violate the privacy rights of Texans, and I am proud to announce that we have reached the largest settlement ever in a state lawsuit,' said Attorney General Paxton. 'This historic settlement marks the success of our efforts to stand up to the world's largest technology companies and hold them accountable for breaking the law and violating the privacy rights of Texans. Any misuse of Texans' sensitive data will be subject to the full force of the law.'