July 30 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms ( META ) has agreed

to pay $1.4 billion to Texas to resolve the state's lawsuit

accusing the Facebook parent of illegally using

facial-recognition technology to collect biometric data of

millions of Texans without their consent.

The terms of the settlement, disclosed on Tuesday, mark the

largest accord ever by any single state, according to the

lawyers for Texas, whose legal team included the plaintiffs firm

Keller Postman.

The lawsuit, filed in 2022, was the first major case to be

brought under Texas' 2009 biometric privacy law, according to

law firms tracking the litigation. A provision of the law

provides damages of up to $25,000 per violation.

Texas accused Facebook of capturing biometric information

"billions of times" from photos and videos that users uploaded

to the social media platform as part of a free, discontinued

feature called "Tag Suggestions."

A spokesperson for Meta said the company is pleased to

resolve the matter and looks forward to "exploring future

opportunities to deepen our business investments in Texas,

including potentially developing data centers."

It has continued to deny any wrongdoing.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a statement said

the settlement marks the state's "commitment to standing up to

the world's biggest technology companies and holding them

accountable for breaking the law and violating Texans' privacy

rights."

Texas and Meta said they reached an accord in May, weeks

before the start of a trial in state court was scheduled to

begin.

Meta separately agreed to pay

$650 million

in 2020 to settle a biometric privacy class action that was

brought under an Illinois privacy law that is considered one of

the nation's most stringent. The company also denied wrongdoing.

Alphabet's Google separately is fighting a

lawsuit by Texas

accusing the company of violating the state's biometric

law.