Meta Platforms has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to Texas to settle a lawsuit accusing it of illegally using facial-recognition technology to collect biometric data from millions of Texans without consent, Reuters reports.
The lawsuit, initiated in 2022 under Texas’s 2009 biometric privacy law, claimed Facebook unlawfully collected biometric data “billions of times” from photos and videos using a feature called “Tag Suggestions.” Meta, which has denied wrongdoing, views the settlement as an opportunity to potentially expand its business investments in Texas, including developing data centers.
The settlement, the largest ever by a single state, was reached in May ahead of a scheduled trial. Meta had previously paid $650 million in 2020 to settle a similar case in Illinois. Google is also facing a lawsuit from Texas regarding its biometric data practices.
