Google has agreed to pay $1.375 billion to the state of Texas to settle two lawsuits accusing the company of violating residents’ privacy rights, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Friday.
The lawsuits, filed in 2022, alleged that Google unlawfully tracked users’ locations, private searches, voiceprints, and facial geometry through services like Chrome, Google Maps, and Google Photos. Paxton described the settlement as a landmark moment for consumer privacy, calling it the largest such settlement ever reached between a state and the tech giant.
“This is a major win for Texans’ privacy,” Paxton said. “For years, Google secretly tracked people’s movements, searches, and even biometric data. I fought back and won.”
The agreement follows a similar $1.4 billion settlement secured by Paxton last year from Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, over the unauthorized use of biometric data.
Google, while agreeing to the settlement, did not admit to any wrongdoing. Spokesperson Jose Castaneda said the company had already implemented many of the policy changes at the heart of the complaints and emphasized that the settlement would not require any further changes to its products.
“This resolves a series of longstanding claims concerning policies we’ve since updated,” Castaneda said. “We’re pleased to move forward and remain committed to building strong privacy protections into our services.”
The settlement covers claims related to Chrome’s incognito mode, Google Maps’ location tracking, and facial recognition data in Google Photos.
