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Until Meta is able to create a planned opt-in system, Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and Portal users in these states will see a "temporarily unavailable" message when attempting to access the AR tools.
Meta clarified in a statement that it disabled its facial recognition technology in 2021, and said that it doesn't believe its AR accessories break the facial recognition laws in place in TX and IL. However, it also stated that it expects the two states' new facial recognition laws to lead to baseless accusations anyway.
"The technology we use to power augmented reality effects like masks, avatars, and filters is not facial recognition or any technology covered by the Texas and Illinois laws, and is not used to identify anyone," a Meta spokesperson told Axios. "Nevertheless, we are taking this step to prevent meritless and distracting litigation under laws in these two states based on a mischaracterization of how our features work."
The litigation that Meta is probably alluding to is the ACLU Clearview lawsuit, given that it was settled only a day prior. The ACLU brought the suit against Clearview in 2020, alleging that the tech company had broken the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act by failing to get consent before collecting and tracking users' biometric information.
Facebook has faced legal trouble for its facial recognition systems in the past. In 2021, the company was hit with a $650 million settlement in favor of Facebook users in a privacy-related IL suit. According to the judge, this was the largest settlement ever offered for a privacy case.
Like the suit against Clearview, the suit against Facebook alleged that the company had been collecting user biometric data without user consent.
Facebook has also been named in an ongoing suit filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton alleging that same violation of Texas privacy laws.
"Little did users know that when they answered the simple question of who was in the photograph, they were helping to teach Facebook's facial-recognition technology to better map and recognize human faces for the benefits of Facebook's commercial endeavors -- and to the detriment of users' and nonusers' personal safety and security," the ongoing lawsuit against Facebook reads.
