Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a civil lawsuit against Meta for collecting biometric data from millions of Texans without their informed consent.
Paxton said Facebook's facial recognition system ignored state laws that prohibit the collection and sharing of Texans' biometric identifiers without their consent.
Violators of the rules face a fine of up to $25,000 for each case. Authorities estimate that more than 20 million Texans were on Facebook in 2021. Potential penalties could be $500 billion.
"Facebook will no longer use people and their children for profit at the expense of their safety and well-being," Paxton said.
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Meta said that the Attorney General's claims are groundless, and they intend to "vigorously defend themselves."At the center of the case is facial recognition technology, which Facebook stopped using in November 2021. It was part of a "tagging suggestion" feature that scanned photos and automatically tagged users on them.
In early 2021, a federal judge fined Facebook for similar violations in Illinois. The company was ordered to pay $650 million in compensation.