Texas is suing Facebook's parent company Meta over privacy issues.
The announcement was made today by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from Marshall Texas where the suit was filed.
"We are filing a lawsuit under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, which is designed to protect consumers from deceptive trade practices and fraud, and also under other Texas statutes relating to capturing biometric identifiers," Paxton said. "In violating the law, one of the things that Facebook did was not disclose to consumers that they were capturing their biometric identifiers, particularly facial geometry. Consumers didn't know that they were capturing it - the law requires that they disclose that. They were also not supposed to transmit that information to other parties, which they also did, which is also a violation of state law. And then they were supposed to destroy it within a reasonable amount of time - another thing that Facebook has not done."
Paxton said that as of 2021 there are over 20 million Facebook users in Texas.
Paxton also said that this lawsuit could result in billions of dollars in damages for Texas, citing that each violation of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act amounts to $10,000, while each violation of the statute mentioned amounts to $25,000.
"Facebook will no longer take advantage of people and their children with the intent to turn a profit at the expense of one’s safety and well-being," Paxton said, according to AP. "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."
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