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Google To Pay Texas $1.375 Billion In Record Privacy Settlement
GOOGLE will pay the state of TEXAS $1.375 billion to settle two lawsuits alleging it tracked users’ personal location and stored facial recognition data without consent, violating TEXAS privacy laws. The agreement also resolves a third claim related to search history data, which TEXAS alleges GOOGLE continued to record even after users selected incognito mode.
The amount paid is on par with the $1.4 billion that META paid TEXAS last year in a separate facial recognition case, the largest privacy settlement ever reached by a single state.
GOOGLE Spokesman JOSÉ CASTAÑEDA said, “This settles a raft of old claims, many of which have already been resolved elsewhere, concerning product policies we have long since changed. We are pleased to put them behind us, and we will continue to build robust privacy controls into our services.”
TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL KEN PAXTON commented, “This $1.375 billion settlement is a major win for TEXANS’ privacy and tells companies that they will pay for abusing our trust. I will always protect TEXANS by stopping Big Tech’s attempts to make a profit by selling away our rights and freedoms.”
The settlement does not impact TEXAS’s pending federal lawsuit alleging GOOGLE operates an illegal monopoly in online display advertising. That trial is scheduled to begin in AUGUST in the U.S. DISTRICT COURT for the EASTERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS.