In a settlement that underscores the growing scrutiny of Big Tech’s data practices, Google has agreed to pay $1.375 billion to the state of Texas to resolve claims that it violated residents’ privacy rights by unlawfully tracking and storing sensitive user data.
The announcement was made on Friday by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who framed the deal as the largest privacy-related settlement ever secured by a state against the tech giant—and a defining moment in his office’s ongoing battle against what he described as Silicon Valley’s disregard for consumer rights.
“For years, Google secretly tracked people’s movements, private searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry through their products and services,” 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.”
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The settlement stems from two separate lawsuits filed by Paxton’s office in 2022. The suits accused Google of systematically collecting personal data without adequate user consent, including biometric identifiers and location information, in violation of Texas’s biometric privacy laws and the state’s Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
Central to the claims were allegations that Google’s Chrome browser’s incognito mode misled users into thinking their activity was private, and that location data was being collected through Google Maps even when users had turned off location history settings. Additional claims were tied to the collection of biometric data through Google Photos, where users’ facial geometry and voiceprints were allegedly used for features like facial recognition without informed consent.
Though Google denies any wrongdoing and has admitted no liability as part of the settlement, the financial penalty is a sign that state attorneys general are willing to challenge powerful tech companies over how they collect and use consumer data.
Google spokesman José Castañeda said the settlement “resolves a raft of old claims” that concern product policies which have “long since changed.” He emphasized that Google will not be required to alter any of its current services as a result of the agreement.
“This settles a raft of old claims, many of which have already been resolved elsewhere, concerning product policies we have long since changed,” Castañeda said. “We are pleased to put them behind us, and we will continue to build robust privacy controls into our services.”
However, the settlement’s magnitude, nearly $1.4 billion, eclipses previous agreements reached between other states and Google. It follows a similar $1.4 billion settlement Paxton secured from Meta Platforms Inc. in 2023, involving the unauthorized use of facial recognition technology on Facebook and Instagram.
Texas Leading a New Front on Tech Regulation
The back-to-back billion-dollar deals position Texas as a leader in holding tech firms accountable for data privacy violations, particularly through enforcement of its state-level biometric privacy law. Paxton’s legal strategy has relied on leveraging Texas’s biometric statute, which is modeled in part after Illinois’s Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA)—a law that has already led to several high-profile legal outcomes.
“Big Tech is not above the law,” Paxton said.
Although federal legislation on data privacy has remained stalled in Congress, the Texas settlement demonstrates how states are stepping into the regulatory vacuum. Experts say the rising tide of state-led enforcement could create a patchwork of privacy regimes nationwide, and increase pressure on companies to build more transparent and accountable data systems.
A Warning to The Industry
The settlement sends a strong message to other tech companies relying on user data to power their services. As regulatory scrutiny increases at both state and federal levels, industry players are likely to face mounting legal costs and reputational risks if found to be in breach of local privacy laws.
What’s more, the deal reinforces the growing relevance of biometric privacy—a subset of data rights that encompasses facial recognition, fingerprint scanning, voice recognition, and more. With tech companies increasingly incorporating such features into their products, legal safeguards around biometric data may become the next major battleground.