Texas AG Demands Pfizer Hand Over Documents Related to Meta Ads
Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office has demanded that Pfizer and other firms provide advertising data linked to Meta, the social media giant. The move comes after the state raised concerns about consumer data privacy in its ongoing legal dispute with Meta. According to Law360, the Texas Attorney General alleges that millions of Texans have had their private biometric data misused over the last decade.
The order requires the vaccine maker to share any information it has about the use of Meta’s facial recognition technology, in addition to allegations that the company collected biometric data from Facebook users without their consent. This ruling related to Pfizer’s records follows a February 2022 filing by the Texas Attorney General against Metta, alleging that “Facebook knowingly collected biometric data for its own commercial gain” to “train and improve” its internal AI-powered facial recognition technology. The Texas lawsuit cites Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerburg’s comment that photo tagging is “more important than all of [Facebook’s] features combined” as evidence in their case against the company, a point that underscores its allegations against the company. The February 2022 petition against Meta over privacy concerns came shortly after Facebook decided to phase out its facial recognition system in 2021. Meta said its move to curtail development of facial recognition technology was necessary due to a lack of guidance from regulators.
The Texas Attorney General has been aggressive in seeking Meta’s information on the matter. The state has cast a wide net with several lawsuits and sued several other big-name companies that are affiliated with the company through its advertising division. Pfizer is just one of many companies that have been subpoenaed to try to find information that incriminates Meta. Other parties ordered to disclose advertising information include Procter & Gamble, Home Depot, The New York Times, SmileDirectClub and Clarity Media Group. While the exact investment value of Pfizer’s advertising deals with Meta is not being disclosed, we do know that the company’s “SG&A,” which includes marketing and advertising, will reach $34 billion by 2022. Meta is hardly the only name in the big tech on Texas AG targeted due to data protection issues. Google is similarly sued by the Texas Attorney General over its facial data collection practices. Texas sued Google last year over “years of practices” of capturing the biometric data of millions of Texans without permission. That same year, in a separate lawsuit with the state of Illinois, Google paid $100 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the tech giant of violating the Biometric Data Protection Act. The case is reminiscent of a Texas lawsuit filed against Meta, alleging that the company violated Texas’ Biometric Identification Act. Confirmation that Meta’s violation of a specific Texas statute may result in a fine of up to $25,000 per violation of the statute. So far, the social media giant has not been fined. Both Pfizer and the Texas AG’s office could not be reached for comment on the ongoing case.
