Google to settle Texas privacy lawsuits with $1.4 billion

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Google has agreed to pay $1.375 billion to the state of Texas to settle two lawsuits that accused the tech giant of collecting people’s private information without their permission. 

The lawsuits, filed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in 2022, claimed that Google secretly tracked users’ locations, incognito searches, voice data, and facial recognition data. 

Paxton argued that this kind of data collection violated people’s privacy rights.

This is the largest settlement any US state attorney general has ever received from Google related to privacy violations. 

A similar case last year saw Facebook’s parent company, Meta, pay a comparable amount for its misuse of facial recognition data.

Paxton celebrated the win, saying it shows that big tech companies like Google must follow the law in Texas. 

He emphasized that Google tracked users through its products, such as smartphones and apps, without properly informing or getting permission from them.

Google, however, denies doing anything wrong. A company spokesperson said that by settling the lawsuits, Google is not admitting any guilt or legal responsibility. 

They also said that the issues raised in the lawsuit are based on old practices that Google has since changed. 

According to the company, many of the claims were already resolved in other courts, and this settlement allows them to move forward.

In fact, Google had already won parts of these lawsuits earlier. For instance, a court decided the company didn’t have strong enough connections to Texas to be sued there in one case. 

Google also defended its services, saying that tools like Google Photos only use facial recognition to help users organize their pictures, not to serve ads or make money.

The settlement comes at a time when Google is also dealing with other serious legal challenges. 

Recent antitrust rulings found that the company unfairly maintained dominance in online search and advertising. 

One proposed solution includes forcing Google to sell off its Chrome browser, though Google plans to appeal those decisions.

Meanwhile, Paxton has announced he will run against US Senator John Cornyn in the next election.

What do you think about this settlement? Do you think the privacy violation punishments should be worse than just a fine? Let’s chat below in the comments, or reach us via our Twitter or Facebook.