Google has agreed to pay the state of Texas $1.375 billion to settle a data privacy lawsuit alleging the company unlawfully tracked and collected users' private data without their consent. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the preliminary agreement, calling it a "historic win" for Texans' data privacy and security rights.
The lawsuit, originally filed in 2022, accused Google of illegally collecting and tracking users' private data, including geolocation, incognito searches, and biometric information. Paxton stated that Google secretly tracked people's movements, private searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry through various products and services. He added that Google collected millions of biometric identifiers, such as voiceprints and facial-geometry records, through services like Google Photos and Google Assistant. According to Paxton, this data collection was an "exploitation of the personal information of Texas" and violated the state's Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act.
The settlement addresses multiple allegations from the 2022 lawsuit concerning the unlawful tracking and collection of users' personal information, including:
Google stated that the agreement resolves several old claims related to product policies it has since updated. The company also clarified that the settlement does not require further changes to its products. "We are pleased to put them behind us, and we will continue to build robust privacy controls into our services," said Google spokesperson José Castañeda.
This settlement is the largest amount won by any state in an agreement with Google over similar claims. To date, no other state has attained a settlement against Google for similar data-privacy violations greater than $93 million. Even a multistate coalition that included forty states secured just $391 million—almost a billion dollars less than Texas's recovery.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been actively pursuing data privacy and security initiatives against Big Tech companies. In July 2024, Texas secured a $1.4 billion settlement with Meta (formerly Facebook) for unlawfully collecting and using facial recognition data. Paxton has also reached previous settlements with Google for anticompetitive and deceptive trade practices.
Norton Rose Fulbright, the law firm representing Texas in the litigation, holds three contingent-fee contracts with the state, meaning payment is contingent on Texas prevailing. The contracts stipulate that Norton Rose Fulbright will be compensated either by its billable hours multiplied by a factor of four or by a percentage of the total settlement, whichever is lower. If the $1.375 billion settlement is finalized, the firm's share could range from $137 million to $371 million.
This settlement highlights the ongoing concerns surrounding data privacy and the increasing scrutiny of tech companies' data collection practices. It also underscores the importance of states taking action to protect their residents' data privacy rights.
