Meta Platforms reached a $1.4 billion settlement with the US state of Texas over a lawsuit that alleged the Facebook parent collected personal biometric data of millions of residents without the authorisation required by law.

The office of Texas attorney general Ken Paxton stated the settlement is the largest ever obtained from a lawsuit brought by a single US state. In addition, it is the largest privacy settlement ever obtained by a state attorney general, eclipsing the $391.5 million a group of 40 states secured in 2022 from Google.

The lawsuit is the first filed under Texas’ “Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier” law. Paxton and several plaintiffs filed the lawsuit against Meta Platforms in 2022.

Meta Platforms was accused of unlawfully capturing the biometric data of millions of Texans without obtaining their informed consent.

The company rolled out a new feature in 2011 called “Tag Suggestions” which captured biometric data from Facebook users when they uploaded pictures and videos to the social media platform.

The settlement noted for more than a decade facial recognition software was run on virtually every face contained in the photographs uploaded to Facebook, obtaining records of the facial geometry of the people depicted without their consent.

Paxton stated the legal action demonstrates the state’s “commitment to standing up to the world’s biggest technology companies and holding them accountable for breaking the law and violating Texans’ privacy rights”.

The company will pay the state of Texas the amount over five years.

The settlement states there is no admission of wrongdoing by Meta Platforms. A representative for the social media giant told Mobile World Live it is pleased resolve the matter and looks “forward to exploring future opportunities to deepen our business investments in Texas, including potentially developing data centres”.