Google to pay Texas $1.4B to settle claims of unauthorized tracking, collecting of private data

Google will pay $1.4 billion to Texas to settle a lawsuit claiming the company collected users' data without permission, according to state Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Paxton said the settlement sends a message to tech companies that he will not allow them to profit off "selling away our rights and freedoms." He also said the agreement "is a major win for Texans’ privacy and tells companies that they will pay for abusing our trust."

"In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law," Paxton said in a statement. "For years, Google secretly tracked people’s movements, private searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry through their products and services. I fought back and won."

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This is the largest amount won by any state in a settlement with Google over similar data-privacy violations, Paxton said.

The agreement settles several claims Texas made against Google in a 2022 lawsuit over geolocation, incognito searches and biometric data. The state argued Google was unlawfully tracking and collecting users’ private data.

Paxton claimed the tech giant collected millions of biometric identifiers, including voiceprints and records of face geometry, through applications like Google Photos and Google Assistant.

Google said the agreement settles various "old claims," including some related to product policies the company has already changed. The company said the settlement does not require any additional product changes.

"We are pleased to put them behind us, and we will continue to build robust privacy controls into our services," Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in a statement to The Texas Tribune.

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Texas had previously reached two other settlements with Google within the last two years, including in December 2023 when the company agreed to pay $700 million and make several other concessions to settle allegations that it had been stifling competition against its Android app store.

Last year, Meta agreed to a $1.4 billion settlement with Texas over claims that the company used facial recognition software without users' consent. The "tag suggestions" feature was specifically cited in the suit, as Facebook would run photos uploaded to the website through its facial recognition software and suggested people to tag in photos.