The Texas attorney general’s office this week sued Facebook parent company Meta for allegedly capturing and using biometric data without users’ informed consent.
According to AG Ken Paxton, the social network has been storing “millions” of biometric identifiers—defined in Texas as “a retina or iris scan, fingerprint, voiceprint, or record of hand or face geometry”—extracted from uploaded photos and videos.
“By this illegal activity, Facebook exploited the personal information of users and non-users alike to grow its empire and reap historic windfall profits,” a press release from Paxton’s office explained. The suit, first reported by The Wall Street JournalThe Wall Street Journal, seeks civil penalties in the “hundreds of billions of dollars,” a person familiar with the matter said.
Facial-recognition for photo tagging on Facebook dates back to 2010, when it was common for folks to wake up after a night out to notifications that “so-and-so tagged you in 72 photos.” The technology, however, has grown more sophisticated in the decade since, as companies like Amazon, IBM, and Microsoft develop advanced systems for corporate clients. Amid pushback from privacy groups and the public, all three firms have scaled back their facial-recognition efforts, which often prove wrong—particularly when identifying people of color.
Meta in November promised to shut down Facebook’s facial-recognition system and delete its template for recognizing people in photos. The move, purportedly due within a few weeks of Meta’s announcement, means the social network can’t automatically spot friends and family in Memories, photos, or videos. It also put an end to tagging suggestions when uploading images.
“Facebook will no longer take advantage of people and their children with the intent to turn a profit at the expense of one’s safety and well-being,” Paxton said in a statement. “This is yet another example of Big Tech’s deceitful business practices and it must stop. I will continue to fight for Texans’ privacy and security.”
A similar class-action suit was filed seven years ago under Illinois biometric privacy law. Following unsuccessful attempts to dismiss the case, Facebook settled in 2020 for a reported $550 million.
In a statement to the Journal, Meta said the Texas AG’s claims against Facebook “are without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously.”
