Furthermore, Google will contribute almost $1.4 billion to the Texas state treasury. This settlement cancels allegations that the company unlawfully breached the data privacy rights of Texans. In a joint statement with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday, Paxton trumpeted the settlement. He noted that this settlement marks a historic advance for consumer privacy protections against predatory, market-dominating technology corporations.
The $1.375 billion settlement comes from a lawsuit, filed by Paxton in 2022, against the company over its role in Texas’s opioid epidemic. Specifically, the state claimed that Google had illegally monitored and harvested users’ sensitive personal information without providing notice or obtaining permission. Allegations ranged from tracking people’s locations, warrantless home searches, creation of voice prints, and even facial recognition via Google’s other products and platforms.
In Paxton’s announcement, he touted the impact of the settlement on holding the tech industry accountable in Texas. He stated, “In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law.” His comments underscore the state’s commitment to ensuring that large corporations adhere to legal and ethical standards regarding consumer privacy.
What’s most interesting is how the allegations against Google painted a picture of the company’s tracking activities on its users as insidious breaches of that trust. Paxton articulated the severity of these actions, declaring, “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.”
Google’s spokesperson responded to the settlement by noting, “This settles a raft of old claims, many of which have already been resolved elsewhere, concerning product policies we have long since changed.” A new spokesperson said they were happy to have moved on from those concerns. They further pledged to continue strengthening privacy controls across their services.
The settlement is part of an accelerating wave of state-led actions to hold tech giants accountable for their consumer-facing data practices. Worries about consumer data privacy are on the rise. Such a robust enforcement action bodes well for future actions against similar alleged violations.
Leave a Reply