Texas says Meta to pay $1.4 b to settle photo-tagging lawsuit

SAN FRANCISCO — Meta has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to settle a lawsuit accusing it of violating a Texas state privacy law with a feature for “tagging” friends in Facebook photos, according to a deal finalised on Tuesday.

Meta agreed to pay the money over five years to settle the claims accusing the social networking giant of unlawfully capturing biometric data of Facebook users in Texas.

The lawsuit said Meta did not get users’ permission before enabling its software to recognise and “tag” people in pictures, according to a court filing.

“I’m proud to announce that we have reached the largest settlement ever obtained from an action brought by a single state,” State Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement, calling the settlement “historic”.

The lawsuit, filed in early 2022, was the first time Texas had gone to court to accuse a tech firm of violating its “Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act”, according to Paxton.

“We are pleased to resolve this matter and look forward to exploring future opportunities to deepen our business investments in Texas, including potentially developing data centers,” a Meta spokesperson told AFP, noting the settlement includes an agreement that there was no wrongdoing.

Meta rolled out the photo tagging feature in 2011, running facial recognition on photos uploaded to Facebook without asking users for consent, according to the suit.