Google to Pay Texas $1.4 Billion in Major Privacy Settlement

Google has agreed to pay $1.375 billion to the state of Texas to resolve two lawsuits that accused the company of illegally tracking users’ personal data — including location history, incognito searches, voice recordings, and facial recognition data — without proper consent. The suits were initiated by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in 2022. Meta, Facebook’s parent company, settled a similar case with Texas last year for a comparable amount.

“This is the highest recovery nationwide against Google for any attorney general’s enforcement of state privacy laws,” Paxton’s office said. Paxton added, “In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law.”

Google Denies Wrongdoing, Claims Policies Have Changed

Despite the size of the payout, Google has not admitted to any legal violations or liability. A spokesperson stated that the settlement resolves old claims tied to policies that have since been updated. “We are pleased to put them behind us, and we will continue to build robust privacy controls into our services,” said José Castañeda.

Earlier in the legal process, Google won some partial victories, including a court ruling that the company did not have enough legal ties to Texas to be sued there. Google also defended its products, claiming that features like facial recognition in Google Photos were used solely to organize images and not for advertising purposes.

Broader Context: Antitrust Pressure and Political Ambitions

This settlement adds to a string of legal challenges faced by Google, including recent antitrust rulings that concluded the company illegally maintained monopolies in search and ad technologies. Remedies under discussion include breaking off the Chrome browser business, though Google has said it will appeal.

Meanwhile, Attorney General Paxton, who led the charge against Google, has announced his intention to challenge U.S. Senator John Cornyn in the upcoming mid-term elections.