Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Tuesday a $1.4 billion settlement with Meta Platforms Inc. over the company’s unauthorized collection and use of biometric data from millions of Texans. This settlement is the largest ever obtained by a single state and marks the first settlement under Texas’s Capture the Use of Biometric Identifier Act (CUBI Act).
The CUBI Act, enacted in 2001, protects individuals’ biometric information by prohibiting companies from capturing biometric identifiers without informed consent. Specifically, under s 503.001(b), “a person may not capture a biometric identifier of an individual for a commercial purpose unless the person first: (i) informs the individual before capturing the biometric identifier, and (ii) receives the individual’s consent to capture the biometric identifier.”
In February 2022, Attorney General Paxton sued Meta, accusing the company of violating the CUBI Act and the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA) by collecting biometric data without informed consent. Paxton claimed that Meta had been collecting and storing millions of biometric identifiers, including retina or iris scans, fingerprints, voiceprints, and facial geometry records, from photos and videos uploaded by Facebook users and their contacts. This data collection enabled Meta to generate significant profits while infringing on the privacy of both users and non-users, according to Paxton. Furthermore, the attorney general reported that Facebook deliberately avoided using the term “biometric” when describing its Tag Suggestions feature, aware that it would deter people from utilizing the service.
Meta’s “Tag Suggestions” feature, introduced in 2011, automatically tagged individuals in photos using facial recognition technology. This practice continued for over a decade, despite the requirements of the CUBI Act for prior notification and consent for biometric data collection.
In November 2021, Meta announced the discontinuation of its facial recognition tool and committed to deleting over a billion individual facial recognition templates. Meta stated, “there are many concerns about the place of facial recognition technology in society, and regulators are still in the process of providing a clear set of rules governing its use.”
In a press release, Attorney General Paxton emphasized the significance of the settlement:
After vigorously pursuing justice for our citizens whose privacy rights were violated by Meta’s use of facial recognition software, I’m proud to announce that we have reached the largest settlement ever obtained from an action brought by a single State. This historic settlement demonstrates our commitment to standing up to the world’s biggest technology companies and holding them accountable for breaking the law and violating Texans’ privacy rights. Any abuse of Texans’ sensitive data will be met with the full force of the law.
Under the settlement, Meta is required to pay the State of Texas $1.4 billion over five years and must seek pre-approval from the state for any future biometric projects. Despite the settlement, Meta continues to deny any wrongdoing and expresses optimism about future business opportunities in Texas.
The global biometric system market is projected to reach nearly $69.6 billion by 2025.
