Texas Wins $1.4B Settlement in Meta Facial Recognition Lawsuit

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Facts

  • Facebook-parent company Meta has agreed to pay a historic $1.4B penalty to the state of Texas to settle a lawsuit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that accused the tech giant of illegally capturing users' facial and biometric data without their consent.[1]
  • Paxton released a statement Tuesday saying that the settlement is the largest amount ever obtained as the result of an action brought by a single state. Meta will pay the $1.4B to Texas over five years.[2]
  • Filed in Feb. 2022, the lawsuit claims that Facebook collected biometric data, which includes retina and iris scans as well as voice information obtained from photos and videos. Paxton says that millions of Texans had their information collected without their consent — violating state law.[3]
  • Meta's practices violated Texas’ Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act and the Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and in 2021, Facebook disbanded its facial recognition system. Until 2019, the platform would automatically scan photos and recognize users' faces for their friends to 'tag.'[3]
  • Meta has deleted the facial recognition data of more than 1B users whose faces were scanned starting in 2011. The company agreed, as part of the settlement, to notify Texas of any activities that may violate biometric data laws, and it will have 60 days to resolve any issue.[4]
  • Meta didn't admit to any wrongdoing as part of its agreement, but the company has long been under scrutiny for its data collection practices. In 2021, it reached a $650M settlement with Illinois over its facial recognition scanning.[5]

Sources: [1]NBC, [2]CNBC, [3]Spectrumlocalnews, [4]The Texas Tribune and [5]Associated Press.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by SCNR. Attorney General Ken Paxton and the state of Texas secured a massive victory over big tech, and Meta is once again being held accountable for its violation of users' privacy. For a decade, Facebook scanned users' faces and obtained other biometric data without consent, violating Texas law and many other statutes. By winning the largest settlement of its kind, Texas is sending a message that big tech dystopian practices will not be tolerated.
  • Narrative B, as provided by Verge. This lawsuit was filed a year after Facebook ended its automatic facial tagging in photos. For five years, Meta has worked to fix any bugs that may violate users' privacy, and the company maintains that it is not responsible for any wrongdoing. Facebook fixed the issues related to facial recognition and biometric data gathering long ago. This settlement officially resolves the matter.

Predictions