The lawsuit alleges Facebook collected identifying data without consent.

Today, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a lawsuit against Meta, parent company to social media platform Facebook, on the grounds of theft and exploitation of biometric data. To be more specific, Paxton alleges that Facebook’s discontinued tag suggestions feature collected identifying facial data of users, sold it to third parties, and did not destroy the data when the service was discontinued.

“The scope of Facebook’s misconduct is staggering,” the lawsuit reads. “Facebook repeatedly captured Texans’ biometric identifiers without their consent not hundreds, or thousands, or millions of times — but billions of times, all in violation of CUBI and the DTPA.”

At a news conference, Paxton said that every confirmed violation of the Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act and the Deceptive Trade Practices Act would result in a $25,000 for Facebook.

“Facebook will no longer take advantage of people and their children with the intent to turn a profit at the expense of one’s safety and well-being,” Paxton said. “This is yet another example of Big Tech’s deceitful business practices and it must stop.”

In response to the lawsuit, a Meta spokesperson told NPR that “these claims are without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously.”