Ken Paxton says Google will pay Texas $1.4 billion to settle privacy suit

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday announced that his office had reached a preliminary agreement to settle a privacy infringement lawsuit against Google for $1.4 billion.

Paxton said the deal delivers a “historic win” for Texans’ data privacy and security rights. In 2022, Texas sued the tech giant, alleging it unlawfully tracked and collected users’ private data including geolocation, incognito searches and biometric information.

Paxton said the settlement, which must still be finalized between the parties, is the largest settlement any state has won against Google for similar data-privacy violations.

“In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law,” Paxton said in a statement. “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.”

Paxton’s announcement made no mention of whether the settlement would force Google to change its business practices. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Google said in a statement that the settlement resolves a "raft of old claims" concerning product policies the company has "long since changed." The company said the preliminary settlement does not require Google to admit wrongdoing or liability and does not force the company to change any products or required disclosures to consumers.

"We are pleased to put them behind us, and we will continue to build robust privacy controls into our services,” said company spokesperson José Castañeda.

This would be the second victory for Texas against a major tech corporation in as many years. Last year, the state secured a $1.4 billion settlement against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, for unlawfully collecting residents’ facial recognition data.

In both cases, the attorney general’s office hired outside law firms to represent the state. In the Google case, Paxton tapped Norton Rose Fulbright.

The firm has three contingent-fee contracts with the state for Google litigation, meaning it would only get paid if Texas prevailed. The attorney general’s office did not identify which contract the firm would be paid under for this case.

The contracts specify that Norton Rose Fulbright would be paid in one of two ways: its billable hours times a multiplier of four, or a percentage of the total settlement, whichever is lesser.

The percentage ranges between 10% and 27%, depending on the contract. The firm’s percentage share of the settlement, if the $1.375 billion figure is approved by the parties, would be $137 million to $371 million.

Disclosure: Facebook and Google have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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