Google settles for $1.4 billion over Texas privacy lawsuits

Google has settled several lawsuits filed by the state of Texas alleging unlawful tracking of Chrome users and collecting biometric data for $1.375 billion.

The settlement covers two lawsuits that were filed by Ken Paxton, Attorney General of the state of Texas, in 2022.

The first case focused on Google’s Chrome browser’s incognito mode. According to Paxton, the incognito mode of the web browser suggested that Google wouldn’t track users’ search history or geolocation.

Yet, Google did so anyway, violating user privacy.

In the other lawsuit, Google was accused of collecting biometric data, such as faces, voices, and fingerprints, for years through services and products such as Google Photos, Google Assistant, and Google Nest Hub Max without asking for permission.

The tech company then used this personal information for commercial gain, violating Texas’s biometric privacy 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,” Attorney General Paxton said in a statement.

“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,” he continued.

Google has settled both matters without any admission of wrongdoing or liability.

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

To date, no state has attained a settlement against Google for similar data-privacy violations greater than $93 million. Last year, Meta reached a settlement of $1.4 billion with Texas. That case also revolved around the unlawful collection and processing of biometric data from users.