Google has agreed to pay $1.375 billion to the U.S. state of Texas to settle two major lawsuits over unlawful location tracking and biometric data collection practices, according to TheHackerNews.
The lawsuits, filed in 2022 by the Texas Attorney General, accused Google of secretly tracking users’ geolocation, incognito searches, and biometric data such as facial geometry and voiceprints—often without user consent. The tracking reportedly continued even when users had disabled the “Location History” setting.
Largest Privacy Settlement in Tech Industry History
The payment surpasses all previous settlements the company has made in similar cases. In 2022, Google paid $391 million to 40 states. In 2023, it paid $29.5 million to Indiana and Washington, followed by a $93 million settlement with California in September.
This settlement rivals another $1.4 billion penalty paid by Meta to Texas for allegedly collecting biometric data without user consent.
The case highlights ongoing regulatory pressure on Google, which is currently under intense scrutiny in both the U.S. and Europe. Regulators are calling for the restructuring of Google’s business to address mounting antitrust concerns.
In response to increasing privacy demands, Google recently introduced features like storing Maps Timeline data locally on users’ devices and allowing auto-deletion of location history when the feature is active.
About Author
