Regulatory Enforcement
Texas AG v. Meta
State of Texas v. Meta Platforms, Inc.
Where it stands
Settled July 30, 2024 for $1.4 billion payable over five years — the largest settlement ever obtained by a single U.S. state. Texas retained Keller Postman (Zina Bash) and McKool Smith (Sam Baxter, Jennifer Truelove) as outside counsel.
Key ruling
First major enforcement action under Texas CUBI and the largest single-state privacy recovery in U.S. history; established the Texas AG as a primary biometric-privacy enforcer notwithstanding CUBI's lack of a private right of action.
Note on this record
Harrison County cause number not verified.The record
- Court
- District Court of Harrison County, Texas
- Case number
- Docket number not established
- Filed
- 2022-02-14
- Defendants
- Meta Platforms, Inc. · Facebook, Inc.
- Plaintiffs
- Not a class action — parens patriae enforcement action by the Texas Attorney General on behalf of Texas residents whose biometric identifiers were captured
- Technology at issue
- Facebook 'Tag Suggestions' facial recognition applied to photos and videos uploaded by Texas users, including biometric capture of non-users appearing in uploaded photos
- Relief sought
- Civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation under the Texas Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act (Tex. Bus. & Com. Code § 503.001), plus penalties under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and injunctive relief. Unlike BIPA, CUBI has no private right of action — only the Texas AG may enforce it.
- Settlement
- $1,400,000,000
- Counsel of record
- Keller Postman LLC · McKool Smith P.C. · Office of the Texas Attorney General
Claims pleaded
Sources (2)
- Attorney General Ken Paxton Secures $1.4 Billion Settlement with Meta Over Its Unauthorized Capture of Personal Biometric DataOffice of the Attorney General of Texas · 2024-07-30
- Texas sues Meta for alleged violations of Texas biometric lawThompson Coburn LLP · 2022-02
This page describes a publicly filed case. This site is not counsel on this matter, nothing here is legal advice, and the allegations described are allegations unless a court has said otherwise.