Meta Platforms has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to Texas to settle 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 brought under Texas’ 2009 biometric privacy law, which allows for damages of up to $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, now-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 centers.” Meta has continued to deny any wrongdoing.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stated that the settlement demonstrates 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 reached an accord in May, weeks before the trial was scheduled to begin in state court.
In a separate case, Meta agreed to pay $650 million in 2020 to settle a biometric privacy class action under Illinois’ stringent privacy law, while also denying any wrongdoing.
Meanwhile, Alphabet’s Google is fighting a lawsuit by Texas accusing the company of violating the state’s biometric law.
