‘It’s not a fair business’…Texas sues Meta’s Facebook over facial recognition system
Attorney general in Texas on February 14 sued Facebook’s parent company, Meta, alleging it had collected the biometric data of millions of Texans without obtaining their informed consent to do so. The state has come up with a complaint citing the data protection of the state while using the Meta apps. In the complaint, it states that the facial recognition system collected biometric data of citizens without their consent.
The allegation against the social media tech giant came after it violated state privacy protections with facial-recognition technology that collected the biometric data of millions of Texans without their consent. The platform previously employed the technology as part of its “tag suggestions” feature, which used image recognition to scan photos and automatically tag users in them, Wion reported.
The acts from the social media giant side have been considered as big fraudulent practices and they were allegedly called by the name. “This is yet another example of Big Tech’s deceitful business practices and it must stop. I will continue to fight for Texans’ privacy and security,” Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a statement.
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In 2021 November, the parent company of Facebook- Meta shut down that system, citing, among other reasons, “uncertainty” about how the technology would be regulated in the future. The year before, the company paid dollar 650 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged it had violated an Illinois privacy law that requires companies to obtain “explicit” consent before collecting biometric data from users. Soon after the officials recognized the fraud from Meta’s side, Texas sent a civil subpoena to Meta. According to the attorney general’s complaint, at least 20 million Texans used Facebook in 2021.
Meanwhile, However, a Meta spokesman said: “Claims are ineligible when you pledge to defend yourself strongly.”
