Meta to pay $1.4 billion settlement with Texas over facial recognition and photo tags

Texas announced a monolithic colony pinch Meta complete nan usage of facial nickname connected Facebook, resolving a suit revenge successful 2022 claiming that nan “Tag Suggestions” characteristic connected photos uploaded to Facebook violated nan state’s Capture aliases Use of Biometric Identifier (CUBI) Act and Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Meta has agreed to salary $1.4 cardinal complete 5 years to settee nan suit, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s agency said today.

It’s nan largest colony ever resulting from an action brought by a azygous state, according to Paxton. It’s besides nan first suit and colony nether CUBI and serves arsenic a informing to different companies successful usurpation of nan state’s privateness rights, he says.

“Any maltreatment of Texans’ delicate information will beryllium met pinch nan afloat unit of nan law,” Paxton said successful a press release.

At rumor are suggestions Facebook made for tagging group connected photos. “In 2011, Meta rolled retired a caller feature, initially called Tag Suggestions, that it claimed would amended nan personification acquisition by making it easier for users to ‘tag’ photographs pinch nan names of group successful nan photo,” according to nan property release.

That was 2 years aft Texas passed the CUBI Act, which prohibits companies from capturing biometric information for illustration look geometry without receiving anterior informed consent. Facebook turned connected tag suggestions automatically — “capturing and utilizing nan individual biometric information of millions of Texans without nan authorization required by law,” nan lawyer general’s agency says.

The suit initially sought $25,000 successful civilian penalties per CUBI usurpation positive an added $10,000 per usurpation of nan Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, The Verge antecedently reported. Those penalties could person reached hundreds of billions of dollars, The Wall Street Journal reported successful 2022.

“We are pleased to resoluteness this matter, and look guardant to exploring early opportunities to deepen our business investments successful Texas, including perchance processing information centers,” Meta spokesperson Christopher Sgro said successful an email.