Meta is no stranger to being sued over its disregard for personal privacy. Amid its struggles with Europe, Meta is now in the midst of a legal battle in the States. The state of Texas is suing Meta for using facial recognition on Texans without getting their permission.
Texas is suing Meta for nonconsensual facial recognition
It’s hard enough to stomach when a company uses your search history without your permission, but it’s a different story when it uses your face. The state of Texas filed a lawsuit against Meta for using facial recognition on its citizens without getting their permission.
A statement from the case reads, “…unbeknownst to users, Facebook was disclosing users’ personal information to other entities who further exploited it”. “Moreover, Facebook often failed to destroy collected biometric identifiers within a reasonable time”. Basically, Meta collected biometric data and sold it to other companies. Also, it didn’t get rid of the collected data in any reasonable timeframe.
This did not sit well with the state of Texas. The state presented this lawsuit to stop the company from doing these actions. According to the suit, Meta continued to do this billions of times over time, probably resulting in billions of dollars in revenue. Thankfully, Meta shut down the facial recognition.
The case document didn’t mention a specific amount that Meta needs to pay to the state. Meta could possibly settle out of court to forego the trial altogether.
As shady as this is, Meta still defended itself
Though it’s being sued by Texas, Meta didn’t want to take this sitting down. The company said in a statement, “These claims are without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously.” We don’t know how Meta plans to persuade the jury that this is just. These actions are heavily frowned upon.
2022-02-17 15:06:19