Meta Platforms to Pay Texas $1.4 Billion in Facial Recognition Settlement

Meta Platforms (META) agreed to a $1.4 billion settlement over its collection of personal biometric data from Facebook users, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Tuesday.

Paxton sued the social media company, parent of Facebook and Instagram, in February 2022, claiming it captured the data of millions of Texans “without obtaining their informed consent as required by Texas law.”

Paxton said the agreement “is the largest ever obtained from an action brought by a single State,” and the first under Texas’s Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act (CUBI). The company will pay the money over a five-year period, Paxton said.

Shares of Meta were recently down less than 1%. The company is set to report its latest quarterly financial results tomorrow.

The case relates to Facebook’s “Tag Suggestions” launched in 2011, which made it easier for users to “tag” photos with the names of the people in those shots. Paxton argued that Meta “ran facial recognition software on virtually every face contained in the photographs uploaded to Facebook, capturing records of the facial geometry of the people depicted.”

In a statement to Investopedia, Meta Platforms said that it was pleased to resolve the matter, and that it looks forward “to exploring future opportunities to deepen our business investments in Texas, including potentially developing data centers.” It added that the company did not admit to any wrongdoing. 

Shares of Meta Platforms have added nearly a third of their value in 2024.