Politics
Texas AG Paxton Secures $1.4 Billion Settlement With Google Over Data Privacy Allegations
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Friday that Google had agreed to pay nearly $1.4 billion to the state of Texas in order to settle allegations of violating the data privacy rights of state residents.
Paxton filed a lawsuit against Google in 2022 for allegedly unlawfully tracking and collecting the private data of users.
The lawsuit alleged that the tech giant has collected millions of biometric identifiers, including voiceprints and records of face geometry, from Texans through its products and services like Google Photos, Google Assistant, and Nest Hub Max. Paxton described the violations of a documented pattern of behavior in a press release at the time.
“Google’s indiscriminate collection of the personal information of Texans, including very sensitive information like biometric identifiers, will not be tolerated,” Paxton said in the release. “I will continue to fight Big Tech to ensure the privacy and security of all Texans.”
On Friday, the attorney general announced that the settlement, which covers allegations in two separate lawsuits against Google, set a new record when compared with past settlements secured by separate states over similar data privacy allegations.
“In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law,” Paxton said in a statement on Friday. “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.”
The attorney general added, “This $1.375 billion settlement is a major win for Texans’ privacy and tells companies that they will pay for abusing our trust.”
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton delivers remarks at a U.S. Department of Justice press conference on February 27, 2018
Google spokesman Jose Castaneda told CNBC that the company did not admit any wrongdoing or liability in the settlement, which involves allegations related to the Chrome browser’s incognito setting, disclosures related to location history on the Google Maps app, and biometric claims related to Google Photo
Castaneda said Google is not required to make any changes to products in connection with the settlement, adding that all of the policy changes the company made in connection with the allegations were previously announced or implemented. “This settles a raft of old claims, many of which have already been resolved elsewhere, concerning product policies we have long since changed,” Castaneda told the outlet.
Friday’s settlement comes nearly 10 months after Paxton obtained a $1.4 billion settlement for Texas from Meta, the parent company of Facebook, over similar allegations of biometric data collection violations.
The attorney general recently announced that he will be challenging long,e Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) in the state’s Senate primary campaign in 2026. Paxton, a staunch ally of President Trump’s, currently enjoys a massive advantage over Cornyn, according to a recent poll from Fabrizio, Lee & Associates.
