Google to Pay $1.4 Billion to Settle Dual Privacy Lawsuits

On Friday, Google consented to pay Texas $1.4 billion, facing accusations of violating state residents’ privacy related to two lawsuits concerning location tracking, search history, and facial recognition data collection.

Attorney General Ken Paxton, who facilitated the settlement, initiated a lawsuit in 2022 under Texas’ data privacy and deceptive trade practices legislation. Less than a year later, he achieved a $1.4 billion settlement with Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram.

This settlement marks another legal challenge for the tech giant. In the last two years, Google has faced a series of antitrust cases, revealing its significant control over app stores, search engines, and advertising technology. Recent legal battles have sought to counter the U.S. government’s requests to break up the company.

“Big tech must adhere to the law,” Paxton stated.

Google spokesperson José Castañeda remarked that the company has already revised its product policies. “This resolves numerous longstanding claims, many of which have found resolution elsewhere,” he noted.

Privacy concerns have caused significant friction between tech corporations and regulators in recent years. In the absence of federal privacy regulations, states like Texas and Washington have enacted laws to limit the collection of facial, voice, and other biometric data.

Google and Meta have been among the leading companies challenged under these regulations. Texas law, known as the Capture or Use of Biometric Identifiers, mandates that companies obtain consent before utilizing features like facial and speech recognition technology. Violators can face penalties of up to $25,000 per breach.

The lawsuit under this law centers on the Google Photos app, which facilitates searching for images of specific individuals. Future Google cameras may issue alerts upon recognizing visitors at a door. Moreover, Google Assistant is designed to learn and respond to inquiries from up to six users.

Mr. Paxton filed another lawsuit claiming that Google misled Texans by tracking their personal location data, even when they believed they had disabled the feature. He asserted additional grievances in the lawsuit, alleging that Google’s private browsing settings (known as Incognito Mode) were not genuinely private. These cases were filed under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.