The US IT giant Meta has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to settle a lawsuit brought by the state of Texas, which accused the company of illegally obtaining personal biometric data of millions of people using facial recognition technology. The state of Texas announced this on the 30th.

The lawsuit was filed in Texas in 2022, alleging that Mehta violated people’s privacy by illegally collecting biometric data from people’s photos and videos uploaded to the social networking site Facebook for over 10 years without obtaining permission under state law.

Texas Attorney General Paxton said in a statement, “This historic settlement demonstrates our determination to stand up to some of the world’s largest technology companies and hold them accountable for their violations of our laws and privacy rights.” He also explained that this is the largest settlement ever in a lawsuit filed by a single state. (Kyodo News)