Aug. 1, 2024 -- Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, will pay Texas $1.4 billion to settle a lawsuit that accused the company of illegally collecting facial recognition information on millions of users in violation of state law.

The settlement was announced by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday, who filed the lawsuit in state court in 2022.

According to the suit, Meta violated Texas state privacy laws by automatically tagging users' faces on its site. The agreement is the largest privacy settlement by a U.S. state, said 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," said Paxton in a statement. "Any abuse of Texans' sensitive data will be met with the full force of the law."

"States have become increasingly aggressive in adopting and enforcing privacy laws, particularly in the absence of a federal privacy law," said The New York Times in its report on this topic.

Texas, Illinois and Washington have biometric privacy laws that curb the collection of facial, voice and other biometric data. Texas' law, called Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier, requires companies to ask permission before using features like facial or voice recognition technologies, according to the report.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency