Paxton Secures $1.375 Billion Settlement with Google for Violating Texans’ Privacy Rights

AUSTIN, TX -- Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that Google has signed the historic $1.375 billion settlement agreement with the State of Texas, marking the conclusion of two of the largest data privacy enforcement actions ever brought by a single state against the tech giant.

“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,” said Attorney General Paxton. “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. 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.”

Attorney General Paxton previously sued Google for unlawfully tracking and collecting users’ private data regarding geolocation, incognito browsing activity, and biometric identifiers. The settlement obtained by Attorney General Paxton for these combined abuses far eclipses that of any other one state’s settlement against Google for similar claims, with the largest single-state settlement to date outside of Texas being $93 million. Additionally, a forty-state coalition secured $391 million in its privacy case against Google, which is almost one billion dollars less than what Attorney General Paxton secured for Texas alone. Attorney General Paxton thanks Norton Rose Fulbright, who served as outside counsel to the Office of Attorney General.

This settlement follows Attorney General Paxton’s $1.4 billion settlement with Meta (formerly Facebook) for illegal biometric data collection and his $700 million and $8 million settlements with Google for anticompetitive and deceptive trade practices.