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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced a $1.375 billion settlement with Google related to Texans’ data privacy rights.
“Big Tech is not above the law. Google secretly tracked people’s movements, private searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry. I fought back and won a historic $1.375 billion settlement,” Paxton said.
🚨 BREAKING: Big Tech is not above the law. Google secretly tracked people’s movements, private searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry. I fought back and won a historic $1.375 billion settlement. https://t.co/XrjS1k6GmJ
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) May 9, 2025
From Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton:
In 2022, Attorney General Paxton sued Google for unlawfully tracking and collecting users’ private data regarding geolocation, incognito searches, and biometric data. After years of aggressive litigation, Attorney General Paxton agreed to settle Texas’s data-privacy claims against Google for an amount that far surpasses any other state’s claims for similar violations. To date, no state has attained a settlement against Google for similar data-privacy violations greater than $93 million. Even a multistate coalition that included forty states secured just $391 million—almost a billion dollars less than Texas’s recovery.
“In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law. 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,” said Attorney General Paxton. “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.”
Attorney General Paxton has led the nation in ensuring Big Tech companies do not violate the law or illegally use Texans’ personal data, founding the largest data privacy and security initiative of any state. In July, Attorney General Paxton secured a $1.4 billion settlement for the State of Texas with Meta (formerly Facebook) for unlawfully collecting and using facial recognition data—the largest settlement ever obtained from an action brought by a single State. Previously, Attorney General Paxton reached $700 million and $8 million settlements with Google for anticompetitive and deceptive trade practices. Attorney General Paxton thanks Norton Rose Fulbright, which served as outside counsel to the Office of Attorney General.
Texas AG Ken Paxton Announces $1.375 Billion Settlement from Google for Privacy Violations https://t.co/U5xF4ak88x
— TheLastRefuge (@TheLastRefuge2) May 10, 2025
The Texas Tribune reports:
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.
