Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on July 30, 2024, that Meta has reached a settlement with the state of Texas for the unauthorized use of biometric data from Facebook users, which amounts to a record $1.4 billion. Meta was accused of capturing and using biometric data from millions of Texas residents without the needed legal permissions in a lawsuit submitted in February 2022. This information, which is recorded in billions of biometric identifiers, was gathered by Facebook's "Tag Suggestions" feature, which was introduced in 2011. Despite the Texas Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act requiring consent for such data collection, Meta continued the practice until it announced the shutdown of its Face Recognition system in late 2021.
The settlement, which was lodged in Harrison County's Texas state district court, is the most substantial that a single state has ever achieved. Meta will pay the amount over five years. Paxton emphasized that the settlement reflects Texas's commitment to holding major tech companies accountable for privacy violations. Meta expressed its satisfaction with resolving the matter and indicated potential future business investments in Texas. Paxton's office is also pursuing a similar lawsuit against Alphabet for allegedly collecting biometric data illegally from Texas residents.
