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Google to pay $1.4 billion in unauthorized biometric data collection and
geo-tracking lawsuits

Date:
Mon, 12 May 2025 15:28:00 +0000

FULL STORY

Google has agreed to pay $1.375 billion to the state of Texas to settle
lawsuits over unauthorized tracking and data collection. 

It was deemed that the company had been unlawfully tracking users'
geolocation, including while 'Location History' was disabled. 

Google had also been collecting biometric data, such as facial geometry and
voiceprints, without consent, as well as tracking incognito searches and 
other private user activity.

Google to pay out $1.4 billion for unauthorized data collection

The colossal sum might not be much to a company that generated $350 billion 
in revenue in the most recent fiscal year, but it's still a sum that could 
hit the company hard, marking the largest ever state settlement that Google
has had to pay out of data privacy issues. 

In September 2023, Google paid out its then-largest-ever state settlement of
$93 million over allegations of misleading users about how their location 
data was collected. Earlier in November 2022, the company settled a similar
data collection complaint in a payout worth $391 million, but that was to 40
states  not one. 

"For years, Google secretly tracked peoples movements, private searches, and
even their voiceprints and facial geometry through their products and
services. I fought back and won, said Attorney General Ken Paxton, who
declared that "Big Tech is not above the law." 

Google's 10-figure settlement follows a similar payout from Meta in July 
2024, when it coughed up $1.4 billion over unlawfully collecting and using
facial recognition data. 

Paxton added: "This $1.375 billion settlement is a major win for Texans
privacy and tells companies that they will pay for abusing our trust." 

A Google spokesperson told TechRadar Pro : "This settles a raft of old 
claims, many of which have already been resolved elsewhere, concerning 
product policies we have long since changed. We are pleased to put them 
behind us and we will continue to build robust privacy controls into our
services."

======================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/google-to-pay-usd1-4-billion-in-unautho
rized-biometric-data-collection-and-geo-tracking-lawsuits

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