Even though human intelligence remains largely unmatched, it still doesn’t quite treat some glaring vulnerabilities within our lives. These vulnerabilities are, in fact, known to appear across different areas around the spectrum, hence making a much wider impact than we would have necessary liked. Now, while all these weaklings are dangerous in their own right, some of them are just actually just a brainchild of human beings’ ruthless tendencies. You see, over the years, we have witnessed enough examples where someone’s ulterior motives ended up affecting others in the most scathing way imaginable. To avoid such detrimental situations, the world would bring dedicated regulatory bodies into the fold. The intention here was to establish a sense of order through certain well-defined boundaries, and honestly, it did work out to a larger degree. However, there were some notable challenges along the way. For instance, when technology turned up on the block, it flipped governance on its head by kickstarting a lengthy transition period, giving rule breakers enough time to exploit whatever target they had in mind, but as our regulatory industry gets more and more advanced, that party looks slated to end soon. In fact, the latest lawsuit against Meta has given us yet another reason to feel the said way.
Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton has officially sued Meta for violating the Texas Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier (CUBI) Act. In case you are not aware, CUBI Act prohibits anyone without an informed consent from collecting biometric data of Texans. According to the lawsuit, Meta, however, did not seek any such permission despite having a mass biometric data collection system in place. Interestingly enough, the complaint also drags Instagram into the thick of it by claiming that the platform goes against its own user agreement by scanning images for facial recognition. If the numbers touted in The Wall Street Journal report are factual, the state is currently demanding damages worth $25,000 in civil penalties for each violation. Beyond that, it’s seeking a further $10,000 for each violation of Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
The allegations take up a more aggressive outlook on how Meta has “captured the biometric identifiers of millions of Texans without their informed consent, for a commercial purpose, and failed to destroy them in a reasonable time,” and it could spell an even bigger trouble for the company than paying out hundreds of billions of dollars in damages.
Not long ago, the social media platform was embroiled in a similar fight with Illinois that cost over $650 million to settle, so what happens here is definitely worth a watch.