Paxton brought the first major action under the statute in February 2022, accusing Facebook’s parent company Meta Platforms Inc. of collecting users’ biometric information without their consent to fuel its now-discontinued photo- and video-tagging feature, which used facial recognition technology to identify users.
Meta and the attorney general disclosed in a court filing late last week that they had reached an “agreement in principle” to resolve the dispute, although they didn’t specify the terms of the deal. The state judge overseeing the case put the matter on hold for 30 days to give the parties time to finalize and formalize the settlement.
Other statutes that the attorney general’s new team will be tasked with enforcing include the state’s Identity Theft Enforcement and Protection Act, Data Broker Law, and Deceptive Trade Practices Act, along with relevant federal laws such as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.
“Any entity abusing or exploiting Texans’ sensitive data will be met with the full force of the law,” Paxton added in his statement Tuesday. “Companies that collect and sell data in an unauthorized manner, harm consumers financially, or use artificial intelligence irresponsibly present risks to our citizens that we take very seriously.”
