Google has agreed to pay the U.S. state of Texas nearly $1.4 billion to settle two lawsuits that accused the company of tracking users’ personal location and maintaining their facial recognition data without consent.
The $1.375 billion payment dwarfs the fines the tech giant has paid to settle similar lawsuits brought by other U.S. states. In November 2022, it paid $391 million to a group of 40 states. In January 2023, it paid $29.5 million to Indiana and Washington. that September, it forked out another $93 million to settle with California.
The case, originally filed in 2022, related to unlawful tracking and collection of user data, regarding geolocation, incognito searches, and biometric data, tracking users’ whereabouts even when the Location History setting was disabled and collecting the biometric data without informed consent.
“For years, Google secretly tracked people’s movements, private searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry through their products and services,” Texas Attorney General Ken 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.”
Last year, Google announced plans to store Maps Timeline data locally on users’ devices instead of their Google accounts. The company has also rolled out other privacy controls that allow users to auto-delete location information when the Location History setting is enabled.
The payment also rivals a $1.4 billion fine that Meta paid Texas to settle a lawsuit over allegations that it illegally collected the biometric data of millions of users without their permission.
The development comes at a time when Google is the subject of intense regulatory scrutiny on both sides of the Atlantic, facing calls to break up parts of its business to satisfy antitrust concerns.
