Google to pay Texas $1.4 billion to settle data privacy claims

Google will pay $1.4 billion to the U.S. state of Texas to settle claims that it collected users' data without permission, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Friday.

Paxton described the settlement as a message to tech companies that he will not allow them to profit from "selling away our rights and freedoms."

"In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law," Paxton said in a statement. "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 agreement settles multiple claims Texas made against the search giant in 2022 related to geolocation tracking, Incognito browsing, and biometric data collection. The state alleged that Google was "unlawfully tracking and collecting users' private data."

Paxton claimed, for example, that Google collected millions of biometric identifiers – including voiceprints and records of face geometry – through products and services such as Google Photos and Google Assistant.

In response, Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said the agreement resolves a number of "old claims," many of which pertain to product policies the company has already updated.

"We are pleased to put them behind us, and we will continue to build robust privacy controls into our services," Castaneda said in a statement.

The company also clarified that the settlement does not require any changes to its current products or services.

According to Paxton, the $1.4 billion payout is the largest ever received by a U.S. state in a data privacy settlement with Google.

This is not the first time Texas and Google have reached a major agreement in recent years. In December 2023, the company agreed to pay $700 million and make several concessions to settle allegations that it had stifled competition in its Android app store.

Separately, Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, agreed last year to pay $1.4 billion to settle a similar lawsuit with Texas over allegations that it unlawfully collected and used users' biometric data without consent.

Further details about how Texas plans to use the settlement funds were not disclosed.

(With input from agencies)