Google to pay $1.375 billion to settle Texas data privacy violations

Google has agreed to a $1.375 billion settlement with the state of Texas over a 2022 lawsuit that alleged it had been collecting and using biometric data of millions of Texans without properly acquiring their consent. The office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced the settlement agreement, which called it a 'historic win' for the state, noting that it's the highest recovery nationwide against Google. "To date, no state has attained a settlement against Google for similar data-privacy violations greater than $93 million," commented Paxton's office in the announcement. "Even a multistate coalition that included forty states secured just $391 million—almost a billion dollars less than Texas's recovery." Google was accused of violating the state's biometric privacy act, which dictates that companies must clearly inform users and get their consent before collecting biometric identifiers such as fingerprints, voice, hand scans, and retina/iris scans. According to the lawsuit, ... Read full article.