‘WITHOUT MERIT’

Texas Sues Meta Over Facebook’s Facial-Recognition Data Collection

The lawsuit challenges a now-defunct Facebook photo-tagging software, which the state attorney general said had violated millions of Texans’ privacy.

The Texas attorney general filed a privacy suit against Facebook parent company Meta on Monday, claiming the company, motivated by profit, illegally harvested the biometric data of millions of Texans without their consent. The lawsuit, filed by Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office, alleged that a now-defunct Facebook photo-tagging software had gathered users’ facial recognition data for over a decade, in violation of state consumer protection laws. “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.” In their own statement, a Meta spokesperson said that the claims made against Facebook “are without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously.” The company asserted that the facial recognition tool, before it was shuttered, always gave users notice and an opportunity to decline before it was implemented. Paxton said at a press conference Monday that he would be seeking damages in the “billions of dollars” range.