Google to Pay Texas $1.375 Billion in Landmark Privacy-Tracking Settlement

Google has agreed to pay Texas $1.375 bn to settle two lawsuits alleging that the company unlawfully tracked users’ personal location, incognito searches, voice data and facial-recognition data without consent.

On Friday, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton announced a preliminary agreement to resolve the privacy-violation cases against Google for $1.375 bn.

Paxton described the settlement as a “historic win” for Texans’ data-privacy and security rights. In 2022, Texas sued Google, alleging that the company illegally collected and tracked users’ private data, including geolocation, incognito searches and biometric information.

“In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law,” Paxton said. “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.”

The settlement addresses multiple allegations from the 2022 Texas lawsuit against Google concerning the unlawful tracking and collection of users’ personal information, including geolocation, incognito searches and biometric data.

According to Paxton, Google collected millions of biometric identifiers, such as voiceprints and facial-geometry records, through services like Google Photos and Google Assistant.

Google stated that the agreement resolves several old claims related to product policies it has since updated. The company noted that the settlement does not require further changes to its products.

“We are pleased to put them behind us, and we will continue to build robust privacy controls into our services,” Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in a statement to The Texas Tribune.

Norton Rose Fulbright, the law firm representing Texas in the litigation, holds three contingent-fee contracts with the state, meaning payment is contingent on Texas prevailing. The attorney general’s office did not specify which contract applies to this case.

The contracts stipulate that Norton Rose Fulbright will be compensated either by its billable hours multiplied by a factor of four or by a percentage of the total settlement, whichever is lower. The percentage ranges from 10 % to 27 %, depending on the contract. If the $1.375 bn settlement is finalised, the firm’s share could range from $137 m to $371 m.