Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has been sued by Texas for the company's facial recognition policies that happened from 2010 until November of last year. The reach of this breach reportedly spreads to "tens of millions" of state privacy violations which could reportedly amount to "hundreds of billions of dollars" in civil penalties.
'Tens of Millions' of Violations Against State Privacy
According to the story by AppleInsider, "tens of millions" of violations against state privacy were allegedly a result of Facebook's facial recognition policies. This was noted in a lawsuit that was filed against Meta by the attorney general of Texas.
Attorney General Ken Paxton reportedly filed the lawsuit in a district court in Texas, which reportedly focuses on how the company captures "biometric data in user-uploaded photos." To add, the practice was only shut down in November 2021 and took place starting all the way back in 2010.
Facebook Allegedly Secretly Gathered Information
Pexton gave a statement noting that "Texans' most personal information" has been secretly harvested by Facebook "for its own corporate profit." The information reportedly includes photos and videos and as per Paxton, the law in Texas "has prohibited such harvesting without informed consent for over 20 years."
In response, Meta states that the company would be defending itself "vigorously" and that the claims are also "without merit." identifying users in photos was reportedly the primary focus of Facebook.
Similar Lawsuit Resulted in $650 Million Settlement
Once Facebook identifies the users in the photos, they would then be automatically notified should they appear "in photos or videos uploaded by another person" during that time. A person that was familiar with the matter gave a statement to The Wall Street Journal noting that Texas is now looking for civil penalties that could amount in "hundreds of billions of dollars."
A similar lawsuit was also settled in Illinois back in 2020 over Facebook's facial recognition practices for the amount of around $650 million. Texas then reportedly "sent a civil subpoena to the social media juggernaut" in order to inquire regarding the facial recognition system after the settlement was made public.
Penalty Could Result in Up to $25,000 Per Violation
Facebook, on top of shutting down its "automatic facial recognition" also gave a statement saying it would be limiting the use of that particular technology and even "delete all stored facial data."
The law in Texas does not allow "capturing of biometric identifiers" without the informed consent of the individuals involved. The law reportedly also bars "companies from sharing that biometric data."
The penalty for the Texas law, which can only be enforced by the official state attorney general, amounts to a penalty going "up to $25,000 per violation." In addition, there was also an estimate of 20 million Texans on Facebook back in 2021 as per the claims of the complaint.
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Written by Urian B.
