Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton stated that Google has agreed to a $1.375 billion settlement in principle with the state, resolving allegations that the tech giant violated users’ data privacy rights.
The agreement settles two lawsuits that covered three products for allegedly violating Texas consumer protection laws, according to the statement. This settlement represents the largest recovery nationwide secured by any state attorney general against Google for violations of state privacy laws.
Paxton secures Texas’ largest Google privacy violation payout
Attorney General Paxton said that, “In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law. 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.”
“This $1.375 billion settlement is a major win for Texans’ privacy and tells companies that they will pay for abusing our trust. I will always protect Texans by stopping Big Tech’s attempts to make a profit by selling away our rights and freedoms,” Paxton added.
In 2022, Attorney General Paxton sued Google for unlawfully tracking and collecting users’ private data regarding geolocation, incognito searches, and biometric data. After years of aggressive litigation, Attorney General Paxton agreed to settle Texas’s data-privacy claims against Google for an amount that far surpasses any other state’s claims for similar violations.
To date, no state has attained a settlement against Google for similar data-privacy violations greater than $93 million. Even a multistate coalition that included forty states secured just $391 million, almost a billion dollars less than Texas’s recovery, as per the reports.
