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

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Texas announced a massive settlement with Meta over the use of facial recognition on Facebook, resolving a lawsuit filed in 2022 claiming that the “Tag Suggestions” feature on photos uploaded to Facebook violated the state’s Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier (CUBI) Act and Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Meta has agreed to pay $1.4 billion over five years to settle the suit, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office said today.

It’s the largest settlement ever resulting from an action brought by a single state, according to Paxton. It’s also the first lawsuit and settlement under CUBI and serves as a warning to other companies in violation of the state’s privacy rights, he says.

“Any abuse of Texans’ sensitive data will be met with the full force of the law,” Paxton said in a press release.

At issue are suggestions Facebook made for tagging people on photos. “In 2011, Meta rolled out a new feature, initially called Tag Suggestions, that it claimed would improve the user experience by making it easier for users to ‘tag’ photographs with the names of people in the photo,” according to the press release.

That was two years after Texas passed the CUBI Act, which prohibits companies from capturing biometric data like face geometry without receiving prior informed consent. Facebook turned on tag suggestions automatically — “capturing and using the personal biometric data of millions of Texans without the authorization required by law,” the attorney general’s office says.

“We are pleased to resolve this matter, and look forward to exploring future opportunities to deepen our business investments in Texas, including potentially developing data centers,” Meta spokesperson Christopher Sgro said in an email.



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


Texas announced a massive settlement with Meta over the use of facial recognition on Facebook, resolving a lawsuit filed in 2022 claiming that the “Tag Suggestions” feature on photos uploaded to Facebook violated the state’s Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier (CUBI) Act and Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Meta has agreed to pay $1.4 billion over five years to settle the suit, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office said today.

It’s the largest settlement ever resulting from an action brought by a single state, according to Paxton. It’s also the first lawsuit and settlement under CUBI and serves as a warning to other companies in violation of the state’s privacy rights, he says.

“Any abuse of Texans’ sensitive data will be met with the full force of the law,” Paxton said in a press release.

At issue are suggestions Facebook made for tagging people on photos. “In 2011, Meta rolled out a new feature, initially called Tag Suggestions, that it claimed would improve the user experience by making it easier for users to ‘tag’ photographs with the names of people in the photo,” according to the press release.

That was two years after Texas passed the CUBI Act, which prohibits companies from capturing biometric data like face geometry without receiving prior informed consent. Facebook turned on tag suggestions automatically — “capturing and using the personal biometric data of millions of Texans without the authorization required by law,” the attorney general’s office says.

“We are pleased to resolve this matter, and look forward to exploring future opportunities to deepen our business investments in Texas, including potentially developing data centers,” Meta spokesperson Christopher Sgro said in an email.



Source link

Disclaimer

We strive to uphold the highest ethical standards in all of our reporting and coverage. We StartupNews.fyi want to be transparent with our readers about any potential conflicts of interest that may arise in our work. It’s possible that some of the investors we feature may have connections to other businesses, including competitors or companies we write about. However, we want to assure our readers that this will not have any impact on the integrity or impartiality of our reporting. We are committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news and information to our audience, and we will continue to uphold our ethics and principles in all of our work. Thank you for your trust and support.

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