Meta Platforms to Pay $1.4B to Settle Texas Lawsuit Over Facial Recognition Data

Meta Platforms META.O has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to Texas to resolve the state’s lawsuit accusing the Facebook parent of illegally using facial-recognition technology to collect biometric data of millions of Texans without their consent.

The terms of the settlement, disclosed on Tuesday, marks the largest accord ever by any single state, according to the lawyers for Texas, whose legal team included the plaintiffs firm Keller Postman.

The lawsuit, filed in 2022, was the first major case to be brought under Texas’ 2009 biometric privacy law, according to law firms tracking the litigation. A provision of the law provides damages of up to $25,000 per violation.