What happened
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and other popular social networks, agreed on Tuesday to pay $1.4 billion to settle a lawsuit from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over the company's since-discontinued use of facial recognition software that collected users' data without permission.
Who said what
The "historic settlement" shows Texas' "commitment to standing up to the world's biggest technology companies and holding them accountable for breaking the law and violating Texans' privacy rights," Paxton said in a statement. Meta is "pleased to resolve this matter" and looks forward to "exploring future opportunities to deepen our business investments in Texas, including potentially developing data centers," said a company spokesperson to Politico.
What next?
Meta is currently facing multiple lawsuits from various states over its products' allegedly harmful effects on children. Paxton's office is moving forward with a similar biometric-based lawsuit against Google's parent company, Alphabet.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Western Alaska reels as storm aftermath prompts mass evacuationsUNDER THE RADAR Alaskan lawmakers point to climate change as airlifts relocate hundreds from coastal communities devastated by the remnants of Typhoon Halong
-
Sudoku hard: October 17, 2025The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
-
Codeword: October 17, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
Sora 2 and the fear of an AI video futureIn the Spotlight Cutting-edge video-creation app shares ‘hyperrealistic’ AI content for free
-
Supersized: The no-limit AI data center build-outFeature Tech firms are investing billions to build massive AI data centers across the U.S.
-
Is the UK government getting too close to Big Tech?Today’s Big Question US-UK tech pact, supported by Nvidia and OpenAI, is part of Silicon Valley drive to ‘lock in’ American AI with US allies
-
Google: A monopoly past its prime?Feature Google’s antitrust case ends with a slap on the wrist as courts struggle to keep up with the tech industry’s rapid changes
-
South Korea's divide over allowing Google MapsTalking Points The country is one of few modern democracies where the app doesn't work
-
Google avoids the worst in antitrust rulingSpeed Read A federal judge rejected the government's request to break up Google
-
Grok brings to light wider AI antisemitismIn the Spotlight Google and OpenAI are among the other creators who have faced problems
-
Amazon's robotaxi looks to be Waymo's biggest competitorIn the Spotlight The company recently opened a new robotaxi production plant in California
