Google Reaches $1.375 Billion Privacy Settlement with Texas
Landmark Privacy Payout in the Lone Star State
Google has agreed to a substantial $1.375 billion payout to settle two high-profile lawsuits filed by the state of Texas. The legal actions accused the tech giant of collecting users’ location history, incognito browsing activity, and biometric data—including voiceprints and facial recognition—without explicit consent.
These lawsuits, launched by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in 2022, mark one of the most significant state-level privacy enforcement cases in recent memory. Notably, this payout rivals a similar settlement reached last year by Meta (formerly Facebook), which resolved a facial recognition-related lawsuit from Paxton’s office.
“In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law,” 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.”
Largest State Privacy Settlement Against Google
Paxton’s office described the $1.375 billion settlement as the “highest recovery nationwide against Google for any attorney general’s enforcement of state privacy laws,” underscoring the growing assertiveness of state regulators in holding technology companies accountable for privacy practices.
Google’s Response: No Admission of Fault
Despite the size of the settlement, Google maintains that it is not admitting any wrongdoing. The company emphasized that many of the claims addressed in the lawsuits pertain to outdated practices that have since been revised.
“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 spokesperson José Castañeda. “We are pleased to put them behind us, and we will continue to build robust privacy controls into our services.”
Google also pointed to earlier legal victories during the proceedings, including an appeals court ruling that questioned whether the company had sufficient legal ties to Texas to be sued there. At the time, the tech firm criticized the lawsuits, claiming that Attorney General Paxton misrepresented their products.
For example, in response to concerns about facial recognition in Google Photos, the company noted that the feature simply groups similar faces together for user convenience and is not used for advertising purposes.
A Pattern of Legal Challenges
This settlement comes on the heels of major antitrust rulings against Google in the U.S., where courts found that the company engaged in illegal tactics to preserve its dominance in web search and digital advertising. Proposed remedies include potentially divesting the Chrome browser—an action Google plans to appeal.
Meanwhile, Ken Paxton, the driving force behind the lawsuits, has announced his intent to run against U.S. Senator John Cornyn in the upcoming 2026 elections, signaling that his confrontational stance against Big Tech may remain central to his political platform.
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