Meta’s Facial Recognition Lawsuit Underscores Enforcement Risk
The Texas lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc. over facial-recognition technology spotlights a big enforcement risk for companies around the use of facial geometry, fingerprints, and other biometric identifiers.
Private litigation tied to alleged violations of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act has grabbed headlines and caused companies to settle for millions—but the lawsuit from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) shows that litigation by state attorneys general is also a potentially large legal headache.
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Regulatory Scrutiny
The case could cause a domino effect and result in amped-up biometric privacy enforcement in Texas and Washington, said David Oberly, an associate at Blank Rome LLP in Cincinnati.
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Ripple Effects
The lawsuit should serve as a reminder of the financial and reputational hits that companies thrust in the spotlight on biometric privacy can face, whether that’s in private, plaintiff-led litigation, or in a publicized attorney general-led litigation as in Texas, Oberly said.
Data minimization—properly disclosing information, especially that to sensitive identifiers such as biometrics—is a crucial safeguard for companies, he added.
“Companies need to realize that they shouldn’t hold onto biometric data even if they don’t fall under the Texas law or other biometric laws,” Oberly said. “If you’re no longer using the data, get rid of it—keeping it around is a gigantic risk for data breaches.”
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“Meta’s Facial Recognition Lawsuit Underscores Enforcement Risk,” by Jake Holland was published in Bloomberg Law on February 15, 2022.