The state is seeking hundreds of billions of dollars in damages.
Facebook’s operations in the United States speak for themselves. Adobe Stock / AOP
Texas is suing Facebook’s parent company Meta over the use of facial recognition technology. The company is being prosecuted by the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxtonin in a lawsuit for violating state privacy laws by collecting biometric data from tens of millions of individuals without permission.
Paxton said in a statement that it does not allow Facebook to benefit Texas people at the expense of their safety and well-being. According to Paxton, this is a new example of the fraudulent practices of large technology companies that need to be stopped.
Facial recognition technology has become a growing privacy and human rights issue. In November, Facebook said it would shut down its technology-using system and delete the face data of more than a billion users. According to the company, the decision was due to social concerns and legal uncertainty.
However, according to the lawsuit, the system was shut down too late, as the company had been exploiting Texas people and their data for a decade. Users helped Facebook develop their facial recognition system every time they told the company who appeared in their photos. Indeed, Facebook used facial recognition to pursue its own commercial interests at the expense of user safety.
Stalkers and criminals can use facial recognition technology, according to the lawsuit, to gather information about a potential victim. Governments have also used technology to control people.
However, this is not the first time Facebook has been accused of violating a state privacy law. In February 2021, the company settled a class action lawsuit for $ 650 million. The company was charged with violating Illinois law because users ’faces were scanned without users’ permission.
According to the new lawsuit, Facebook used Texas biometric data billions of times without permission and passed it on to other parties. Facebook has 20.5 million Texas users and the lawsuit is seeking hundreds of billions of dollars in damages.