San Francisco, January 17: A US judge has ruled that Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg must participate in a deposition as part of an ongoing lawsuit in Texas concerning the company's face recognition technology. According to a ruling made by Justice Jeff Rambin on Tuesday, the state court has rejected Meta's recent appeal "seeking relief from an order compelling the oral deposition" of Zuckerberg at an undisclosed date, reports CNBC.

In February 20222, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had filed the suit, saying that Meta has been "capturing and using the biometric data of millions of Texans without properly obtaining their informed consent to do so". Apple App Store Guidelines: Apple Updates Its App Store Guidelines To Allow Developers To Link to Outside Websites for In-App Purchases.

He also held that Meta violated the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act by "failing to disclose information -- including the fact that it collects biometric identifiers -- with the intent to induce Facebook users in Texas into using Facebook, which such users would not have done had the information been disclosed".

According to the latest ruling, the state of Texas has claimed that Zuckerberg possesses "unique personal knowledge of discoverable information" that is pertinent to its lawsuit. The lawsuit alleges that Meta has violated state laws regarding the collection of biometric data and engaged in deceptive trade practices, the report noted.

In 2020, Meta settled a $650 million class action lawsuit in Illinois over similar violations to the state’s biometric privacy law. In late 2021, the tech giant ceased its use of the technology. Meanwhile, privacy rights advocacy group noyb has filed a new complaint against Meta, alleging that the social media platform unlawfully ignores the users’ right to easily withdraw consent and asks them to pay. Foxconn Teams Up With HCL Group To Start Chip Packaging and Testing Venture in India, Invests USD 37.2 Million: Report.

Since the beginning of November, Instagram and Facebook users who don’t want to be tracked have to pay a "privacy fee" of up to 251.88 euros per year.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 17, 2024 09:22 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).