Google Pays $1.375 Billion to Texas Over Unauthorized Tracking and Biometric Data Collection
May 10, 2025
Biometric Data / Privacy
Google has agreed to pay the U.S. state of Texas nearly $1.4 billion to settle two lawsuits that accused the company of tracking users' personal location and maintaining their facial recognition data without consent. The $1.375 billion payment dwarfs the fines the tech giant has paid to settle similar lawsuits brought by other U.S. states. In November 2022, it paid $391 million to a group of 40 states. In January 2023, it paid $29.5 million to Indiana and Washington. Later that September, it forked out another $93 million to settle with California. The case, originally filed in 2022, related to unlawful tracking and collection of user data, regarding geolocation , incognito searches , and biometric data , tracking users' whereabouts even when the Location History setting was disabled and collecting the biometric data without informed consent. "For years, Google secretly tracked people's movements, private searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry...