Texas has landed what officials are calling a “historic” $1.375 billion settlement with Google over privacy violations, marking the largest single-state action of its kind against the tech giant. The agreement, finalized this week by Attorney General Ken Paxton, resolves allegations that Google systematically collected Texans’ sensitive data without proper consent.
“This historic $1.375 billion price tag for Google’s misconduct sends a clear warning to all of Big Tech that I will take aggressive action against any company that misuses Texans’ data and violates their privacy,” Paxton declared in announcing the settlement.
Years of Alleged Privacy Violations
The settlement resolves two lawsuits filed by Paxton’s office alleging Google violated Texas law through various privacy intrusions. At the center of the complaints? Claims that Google tracked users’ locations even when they’d explicitly turned off location services, misled consumers about privacy protections in Incognito browsing mode, and collected biometric data including voiceprints and facial geometry without proper consent.
“For years, Google secretly tracked people’s movements, private searches and even their voiceprints and facial geometry. I fought back and won,” Paxton stated.
The legal battle, which began in 2022, stretched over three years before reaching resolution. Norton Rose Fulbright represented Texas in the litigation, with the firm saying, “We are proud to have supported Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in representing the State of Texas in this important fight for Texans’ data privacy rights.”
Unprecedented Settlement Amount
Just how significant is this $1.375 billion figure? It dwarfs previous privacy settlements with the tech giant by a considerable margin. The Texas Attorney General’s Office highlighted that “no state has attained a settlement against Google for similar data-privacy violations greater than $93 million. Even a multistate coalition that included forty states secured just $391 million — almost a billion dollars less than Texas’s recovery.”
That massive gap between Texas’s settlement and previous actions has raised eyebrows in legal and tech policy circles. Is this a new era of accountability for tech giants, or a one-off victory for a particularly aggressive state attorney general?
Paxton hasn’t been shy about framing the settlement as both a win and a warning. “If Big Tech thinks they can get away with abusing user data and illegally spying on Texans without consequences, I will make sure they are proven wrong,” he asserted. “This monumental settlement is a testament to my office’s commitment to taking on the biggest companies in the world and securing victory on behalf of Texans.”
The Allegations in Detail
The complaints against Google centered on three main privacy issues. First, the Texas AG alleged that Google continued collecting precise location data even when users had disabled location services – essentially tracking people who had explicitly opted out of being tracked.
Second, Paxton’s office claimed Google misled users about its Incognito browsing mode, suggesting greater privacy protections than were actually provided. And third, the lawsuits alleged Google captured biometric identifiers including voiceprints and facial geometry in violation of Texas law.
The scale of the alleged violations – affecting virtually all Texans who use Google services – partly explains the unprecedented settlement amount.
But the victory comes at a time when Paxton himself has faced legal challenges, including an impeachment attempt and ongoing federal investigations. Still, this settlement stands as perhaps the most significant consumer privacy enforcement action in Texas history.
For Google, which reported over $86 billion in revenue last quarter alone, the financial impact may be manageable. The real question is whether this settlement signals a new regulatory landscape where states take increasingly aggressive stances against perceived privacy violations by tech giants – and whether other states will follow Texas’s lead.
