Meta to Pay $1.4bn to Settle Texas Biometrics Claims

Facebook parent Meta has agreed to pay around $1.4 billion deal to settle claims brought by the attorney general of the state of Texas that it collected biometric data from millions of users without their consent, in violation of state privacy laws.

The suit was filed in 2022 and cited Facebook's use of a facial recognition-based photo and video tagging feature, making it easier for users to tag photos, without explaining how this was done. The state's law says companies cannot capture, disclose or profit from a person's biometric identifiers without their informed consent; and that such information must be stored only for a limited time. According to the office of Attorney General Ken Paxton, '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'.

The office says the deal is the largest privacy settlement obtained by a state attorney general. The amount is to be paid over a five-year period. 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'. Facebook / Meta has paid a bigger legal penalty before - $5bn over Cambridge Analytica in 2019 - and shelled out a comparable $1.3bn to the EU over illegal transfers from Europe to the USA.

A spokesperson for Meta, quoted in the Financial Times, said: '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 centres'.