Meta Agrees to $1.4 Billion Settlement with Texas Over Facial Recognition
Settlement Resolves Privacy Concerns Related to Facebook’s “Tag Suggestions” Feature
According to Techcrunch, Meta will pay Texas $1.4 billion to settle a lawsuit about its facial recognition technology. This is the biggest settlement ever secured by a single state. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the deal on Tuesday. The lawsuit, filed in 2022, claimed Meta used facial recognition software to collect biometric data from millions of Facebook users without their consent. This software was part of Facebook’s photo-tagging feature which was automatically turned on for nearly ten years before users had the option to opt-in in 2019.
The lawsuit focused on Facebook’s “Tag Suggestions” feature, which was introduced in 2011. This tool used facial recognition technology to suggest tags for photos automatically. Prosecutors argued that this feature was turned on by default for users in the U.S. and scanned nearly every face on Facebook without informing users or asking for their permission. Meta stopped using facial recognition technology in 2021 and removed over a billion users’ biometric data. Despite these changes the settlement aims to address privacy concerns from when the feature was in use.
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$1.4 Billion: Texas Secures Record-Breaking Settlement from Meta Over Facial Recognition Technology Violations-Must know! (PHOTO: Evrim Ağacı)
Meta to Make $1.4 Billion Settlement Payment and Explore New Investments in Texas
Meta will pay the $1.4 billion settlement over five years starting with an initial payment of $500 million due within the next month. The company has expressed its intention to move forward and explore new business opportunities in Texas including potential investments in data centers. This settlement highlights increasing concerns about how facial recognition technology affects user privacy and reflects ongoing legal and public scrutiny over such technologies.
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