Meta to pay $1.8b to settle Texas facial recognition data lawsuit

Meta Platforms has agreed to pay US$1.4 billion (S$1.87 billion) to Texas to resolve the state's lawsuit accusing the Facebook parent of illegally using facial-recognition technology to collect biometric data of millions of Texans without their consent.

The terms of the settlement, disclosed on Tuesday, mark the largest accord ever by any single state, according to the lawyers for Texas, whose legal team included the plaintiffs firm Keller Postman.

The lawsuit, filed in 2022, was the first major case to be brought under Texas' 2009 biometric privacy law, according to law firms tracking the litigation. A provision of the law provides damages of up to US$25,000 per violation.

Texas accused Facebook of capturing biometric information "billions of times" from photos and videos that users uploaded to the social media platform as part of a free, discontinued feature called "Tag Suggestions."

A spokesperson for Meta said the company is pleased to resolve the matter and looks forward to "exploring future opportunities to deepen our business investments in Texas, including potentially developing data centres."

It has continued to deny any wrongdoing.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a statement said the settlement marks the state's "commitment to standing up to the world's biggest technology companies and holding them accountable for breaking the law and violating Texans' privacy rights."

Texas and Meta said they reached an accord in May, weeks before the start of a trial in state court was scheduled to begin.

Meta separately agreed to pay US$650 million in 2020 to settle a biometric privacy class action that was brought under an Illinois privacy law that is considered one of the nation's most stringent. The company also denied wrongdoing.

Alphabet's Google separately is fighting a lawsuit by Texas accusing the company of violating the state's biometric law.

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