Texas Secures $1.38 Billion Settlement With Google

Source Credit : Reuters

Google has reached a settlement in principle with the state of Texas, agreeing to pay $1.375 billion to resolve allegations of violating user data privacy. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the agreement on Friday, which resolves two lawsuits involving three products that were accused of violating Texas consumer protection laws.

“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,” said Paxton in a statement.

The specifics of the settlement were not revealed. The Texas Attorney General did not provide information on the allocation of the funds.

Google has announced that the agreement reached will resolve claims related to Incognito mode, Location History, and allegations regarding biometrics. It is important to note that the company has not admitted to any wrongdoing.

“This settles a raft of old claims, many of which have already been resolved elsewhere, concerning product policies we have long since changed," said a statement from José Castañeda, a Google spokesperson. "We are pleased to put them behind us, and we will continue to build robust privacy controls into our services.”

In 2022, Paxton filed two lawsuits against Google, claiming that the company had unlawfully gathered facial geometry and voiceprints from Texas residents without their consent. Additionally, he accused Google of tracking users' locations despite their attempts to disable the feature and deceiving users about the privacy features of Incognito mode, which is designed to offer confidential browsing.

Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, reached an agreement last year to pay $1.4 billion to settle allegations made by Paxton regarding the unlawful collection and use of facial recognition data.