Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
USA TODAY
A fiery Texas politician launched a legal assault on Google and Meta. And he's winning.
By Nicole Russell, USA TODAY,
3 hours ago
Depending on how you look at him, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is either a hero or a villain.
In Texas, he's both. But in the fight against Big Tech, Paxton is on the side of the angels.
Vilified by House Republicans last year who voted to impeach him (he was acquitted in the Senate), lauded by everyday conservatives as a champion of the people, bane of the existence of the Texas news media and Democrats, Paxton recently delivered a win that Democrats and Republicans can pump their fist at in celebration.
Ken Paxton 1, Mark Zuckerberg 0
Facebook’s parent company Meta has agreed to pay Texas a historic $1.4 billion to settle a lawsuit that Paxton brought on behalf of the state. The lawsuit accused Mark Zuckerberg's company of using personal biometric data without users’ permission. It's the largest legal settlement a single state has ever obtained.
In 2011, Meta introduced "Tag Suggestions," which helped users tag people in photos. Paxton argued in the scathing lawsuit that the company ran facial recognition on users’ photos until 2021, when Tag Suggestions was discontinued. While Meta maintains its innocence, the company did admit to deleting over 1 billion people’s facial recognition data when it stopped the program.
Meta must pay the first installment of $500 million to the state in a few weeks; the rest can be paid every year through 2028. It's not clear how or where the funds will be distributed. Texas boasts one of the largest economies in the world and enjoys a nearly $33 billion surplus.
Paxton's fight against Big Tech is not over. He sued Google in 2020, and a federal court ruled Wednesday in Paxton's favor, saying that "Google illegally maintained a monopoly by exploiting its dominance to squash competition and hamper innovation," according to the attorney general .
Paxton: People's advocate or slimy politician?
Paxton is a dichotomous wonder of epic proportions here in Texas. Depending on who you talk to, he's either an extraordinary advocate for the everyday Texan or a slimy politician who skirts the boundaries of the law and keeps getting away with it.
If you're not familiar, here's a primer on Paxton: He's a Republican who's been in politics for decades, starting first as a legislator in the state House and then the Senate. He's been the attorney general since 2015.
This kind of Republican − a Jon Snow unsheathing his Longclaw for an epic battle − endears him to people in Texas, many of whom also love Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. These voters have thought for a long time that they've been on the political and legal defensive and that they had no advocate against the federal government and power-hungry Democrats.
To an extent, the combativeness is understandable. Paxton's legal interventions − particularly regarding the Biden administration's attempt to remove border buoys in the Rio Grande used to discourage illegal immigration − are valid and necessary.
But Paxton also has a history of being the target of indictments and investigations. In 2020, the FBI launched an investigation into Paxton, as a result of a whistleblower lawsuit , for allegedly abusing his power as attorney general to help donor and friend Nate Paul .
Paxton also was indicted on securities fraud charges in 2015. The attorney general agreed to a plea deal, which included community service, and the charges were finally dropped.
Paxton has waged war on Big Tech
Paxton's allies claim such allegations demonstrate that the work he's doing is vital: He's such an important advocate for the people that institutions like the FBI and even state Republican and Democratic lawmakers must take him down.
Many others, however, say Paxton is a one-man show who's in politics for himself, skirts the law when he can and − in cases like the settlements with Google and Meta − occasionally gets the football into the end zone.
But when it comes to Big Tech, the people do need an advocate. Paxton's lawsuit against Meta over facial recognition is just one example of Big Tech's massive and intrusive reach into our lives.
Opinion newsletter: Sign up for our newsletter on conservative values, family and religion from columnist Nicole Russell. Get it delievered to your inbox .
Google, Meta and others have a power over the people that few other entities have. Who do you know who doesn't use a smartphone? Doesn't turn to Google to search the internet? Or rely on social media for news, information and personal interactions? Virtually everyone does.
The tech companies' algorithms are so powerful they can set the agenda for the news and information you see, hear and read. Should they have the power to dictate who has a voice? Who and what get censored and who and what don't? How much of your personal information should they be allowed to collect, control and keep?
Paxton's legal troubles may continue to hound him, and perhaps they should. But his legal victories over the Big Tech firms are worth celebrating.
The people need an advocate against Big Tech. In the battle between Ken Paxton and Mark Zuckerberg, I'll take the fiery Texan.
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Comments / 0