Facebook-parent Meta agrees to pay $1.4 billion fine to Texas, here’s why – Times of India

Meta Platforms has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to Texas. According to a report by Reuters, the US state has filed a lawsuit against the Facebook-parent accusing it of illegally using facial-recognition technology to collect biometric data of millions of Texans without their consent. As per the report, the terms of the settlement mark the largest accord ever by any single state.

Texas filed lawsuit against Meta in 2022

The lawsuit was filed in 2022 under Texas’ 2009 biometric privacy law that provides damages of up to $25,000 per violation.Texas then accused Facebook of collecting biometric information “billions of times” from photos and videos that users uploaded to the social media platform as part of a free, discontinued feature called “Tag Suggestions.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a statement said the settlement marks 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.”

What Meta said

The Reuters report quotes a Meta spokesperson who said that 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.”
Separately, Meta is facing pressure from consumer authorities of the European Union (EU) over its controversial “pay or consent” data collection model. According to a report by the news agency AFP, the network of European consumer protection authorities, the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) network has sent a formal letter to Meta, expressing concerns that the model could be unfair and misleading to consumers.