Google To Pay $1.375 Billion In Texas Data Privacy Settlement

Google has agreed to pay $1.375 billion to settle two lawsuits brought by Texas over alleged violations of residents’ data privacy rights, marking one of the largest such settlements in U.S. history and escalating state-level scrutiny of Big Tech.

The settlement, announced Friday by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, resolves claims that the tech giant unlawfully tracked users’ locations, searches, and biometric data—despite user settings designed to protect such information.

“This $1.375 billion settlement is a major win for Texans’ privacy and tells companies that they will pay for abusing our trust,” said Paxton 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 deal, which Paxton said dwarfs any prior state settlement with Google over data privacy, stems from two lawsuits filed in 2022. The allegations focused on the Chrome browser’s Incognito Mode, location tracking practices in Google Maps, and facial recognition data captured through Google Photos.

Friday’s agreement follows a similarly sized $1.4 billion settlement Paxton reached with Meta last year over claims involving unauthorized use of biometric data from Facebook and Instagram users.

While Texas hailed the outcome as a landmark victory, Google emphasized that the agreement does not include any admission of wrongdoing or changes to its current business practices.

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

Castañeda noted that Google had already announced or implemented policy updates in response to privacy concerns, independent of the Texas litigation.

The case is the latest in a string of state-level actions challenging how tech companies collect and monetize user data, particularly in the absence of sweeping federal privacy legislation. Paxton and other attorneys general have increasingly positioned themselves as watchdogs of digital privacy amid bipartisan calls for stronger oversight of the technology sector.

For Google, which is already facing federal antitrust trials and regulatory investigations across multiple jurisdictions, the Texas settlement adds another chapter to a growing legal ledger. But for state officials, it sends a broader signal: Tech platforms may operate globally, but they are not immune from local laws – or local penalties.

With the ink now dry on two multibillion-dollar privacy deals in under a year, Texas is asserting a new kind of digital jurisdiction – one that could shape the future of how personal data is protected in the U.S.