The Texas Attorney General is suing Facebook’s parent company, saying he collected biometric data on jeans for commercial purposes without his informed consent.
Attorney General Ken Paxton filed the lawsuit Monday in a state district court. The lawsuit alleges that Facebook’s father, Meta, has been “storing millions of biometric identifiers” (identified as retinal or iris scans, voice impressions, or a hand and face geometry record) contained in photos. and videos that people have uploaded to their services, including Facebook and Instagram. .
“Facebook will no longer take advantage of people and their children with the intent to make a profit at the expense of safety and welfare,” Paxton said in a statement. “This is another example of Big Tech’s deceptive business practices and it needs to stop. I will continue to fight for the privacy and security of jeans.”
The lawsuit coincided with the first day of early voting in a primary election in Texas, where Paxton faces several GOP rivals as his top MPs report him to the FBI for alleged corruption.
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Paxton has faced “Big Tech,” a common enemy for both Republicans and Democrats, though his criticisms do not always align. He previously launched an investigation into Twitter over the ban on former President Donald Trump and filed several lawsuits against Google.
Under Texas law, the lawsuit says, companies must obtain “informed consent” from people to use their biometric data. This means that people need to be informed before capturing their biometric data and this can only be done if they agree. These data cannot be disclosed to anyone else either, although there are some exceptions, such as in cases where a law enforcement subpoena has been issued.
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A spokesman for Menlo Park-based Meta Platforms Inc. said in a statement that the lawsuit was not “without merit” and that the Texas law in question had never been enforced in the past.
The company said yes in November closing your facial recognition program and deleting most of your data.
Previously, the feature created user-facing templates and compared them to other photos and videos posted on the platform, allowing Facebook to notify users when they appeared on someone else’s photo or video and asking users to “tagged” friends and family that the AI identified.
Facebook still uses the system with limited capabilities, such as allowing users to access blocked accounts and verifying their identity for financial products.
Texas is suing Meta for a $ 25,000 fine on Meta for each violation of the informed consent rule and $ 10,000 for each violation of the state’s deceptive business practices law.
Meta, then called Facebook, paid $ 650 million to settle a similar lawsuit over the use of facial tagging and other biometric data in Illinois last year.
Musadiq Bidar contributed to the report.
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