Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook, has agreed to pay a record $1.4 billion to settle a lawsuit filed by the state of Texas over the unauthorized collection of biometric data from millions of Texans.
The lawsuit, filed in 2022, alleged that Facebook’s use of facial-recognition technology to collect biometric data without consent violated the state’s 2009 biometric privacy law.
According to the complaint, Facebook captured biometric information “billions of times” from photos and videos uploaded to the platform as part of its discontinued “Tag Suggestions” feature.
This settlement marks the largest of its kind with a single state, according to Texas’ legal team.
Meta Platforms fined $220 million by the Nigerian government
In a separate development, Meta was fined $220 million by Nigeria’s Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission for denying users control over their data, sharing data without consent, and abusing its market dominance.
Meta has disputed the Nigerian fine, stating that it had informed users globally about its data practices in 2021 and that the feature has proven popular despite initial confusion.
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