[renonce]

> The settlement, announced Tuesday, does not act as an admission of guilt and Meta maintains no wrongdoing.

> In 2011, Meta introduced a feature known as Tag Suggestions to make it easier for users to tag people in their photos. According to Paxton’s office, the feature was turned on by default and ran facial recognition on users’ photos, automatically capturing data protected by the 2009 law. That system was discontinued in 2021, with Meta saying it deleted over 1 billion people’s individual facial recognition data.

> The 2022 lawsuit

> We are pleased to resolve this matter, and look forward to exploring future opportunities to deepen our business investments in Texas, including potentially developing data centers

Each statement makes it increasingly harder to view it as a fine than a tax. An offence that lasted 11 years and got prosecuted a year after it ended can be explained in no other way than being an excuse dug out of the ground to make a ransom