Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has secured a $1.4 billion settlement with Meta (formerly known as Facebook) to halt the company’s practice of capturing and using the personal biometric data of millions of Texans without the required authorization.
This settlement is the largest ever obtained from an action brought by a single state. It also represents the largest privacy settlement ever achieved by an Attorney General, surpassing the $390 million settlement that a group of 40 states reached with Google in late 2022. This case marks the first lawsuit filed and settled under Texas’s “Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier” Act, serving as a warning to companies engaged in practices that infringe on Texans’ privacy rights.
“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,” said Attorney General Paxton. “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.”
In February 2022, Attorney General Paxton sued Meta for unlawfully capturing biometric data from millions of Texans without obtaining their informed consent as mandated by Texas law. Specifically, Meta’s data collection violated Texas's "Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier" Act (“CUBI”) and the Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Paxton has prioritized holding major technology companies accountable, launching several significant initiatives including antitrust lawsuits and aggressive enforcement of privacy laws.
In 2011, Meta introduced a feature called Tag Suggestions, which was intended to improve user experience by making it easier to tag photographs with names. This feature was automatically enabled for all Texans without explaining its functionality. For more than a decade, Meta ran facial recognition software on nearly every face in photographs uploaded to Facebook, capturing records of facial geometry despite knowing that CUBI prohibits such actions unless informed consent is obtained.
Approximately two years after filing the petition, Texas reached a settlement agreement with Meta. The company will pay Texas $1.4 billion over five years.
Attorney General Paxton expressed gratitude to Keller Postman and McKool Smith who served as co-counsel to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG). Zina Bash led counsel for Keller Postman, while Sam Baxter and Jennifer Truelove led counsel for McKool Smith along with many other lawyers at both firms. Their aggressive litigation posture laid the groundwork for this historic settlement.
To read the final order, click here.