Google to Pay Texas $1.4 Billion to End Privacy Cases (1)

Google will pay the state of Texas $1.375 billion to resolve two privacy lawsuits claiming the tech giant tracks Texans’ personal location and maintains their facial recognition data, both without their consent.

Google announced the settlement Friday, ending yearslong battles with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) over the state’s strict laws on user data.

“This settles a raft of old claims, many of which have already been resolved elsewhere, concerning product policies we have long since changed,” said Google spokesman José Castañeda. “We are pleased to put them behind us, and we will continue to build robust privacy controls into our services.”

The settlement rivals the $1.4 billion Meta opted to pay Texas last year to resolve facial recognition claims involving its Facebook and Instagram platforms. That agreement, which involved just one case, was the largest ever obtained from a suit brought by a single state.

The two billion dollar settlements are part of a broader war against Big Tech by Paxton, who has touted his wins in a bid to challenge John Cornyn (R) for US Senate. Paxton’s office has pending privacy or deceptive trade practices claims against TikTok Inc., Allstate Corp., and General Motors LLC.

The $1.375 billion exceeds the $391.5 million settlement Google reached with 40 states for misleading consumers over location tracking practices in 2022.

“This $1.375 billion settlement is a major win for Texans’ privacy and tells companies that they will pay for abusing our trust,” Paxton said in a statement. “I will always protect Texans by stopping Big Tech’s attempts to make a profit by selling away our rights and freedoms.”

The agreement also resolves a third claim involving search history, which Texas says Google continued to record in some cases even after users opted for a private, incognito mode. Google must also update language in its privacy disclosures, which it says it has already done or announced it will be doing.

Law Firms Win Big

Texas relied on lucrative outside contingency contracts with law firms to take on Google and Meta.

Norton Rose Fulbright, which took the Google litigation, will collect up to 18% of the total net recovery in the facial recognition case and up to 27% of the recovery in the location case, according to contracts with the state of Texas that Bloomberg Law obtained through public records requests.

Partners and shareholders will bill $3,780 an hour—which factors in their usual hourly rate of $945 multiplied by four to offset the risk of losing and getting nothing. Senior associates will bill $2,600 an hour, and associates $1,900 an hour.

In the Meta case, Keller Postman and McKool Smith billed Texas $136 million combined.

Google Was Winning in Court

Friday’s announcement comes on the heels of Google scoring lower court victories in both cases.

In the location and search history case, the Texas Court of Appeals, Thirteenth District, ruled in January that California-based technology giant lacks sufficient ties to be sued in Texas.

Days later, the Court of Appeals, Fifteenth District, said Google can depose the state about allegations it raised in both cases.

Texas, which appealed both decisions to the state supreme court, last week signaled a settlement was coming and asked the court to pause any deadlines. On Friday, the justices granted the request and told the parties to provide an update by June 9.

Friday’s announcement doesn’t impact a Texas-led federal case claiming Google wields an illegal monopoly over online display advertising markets. That case, in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, is set for trial in August.

Google is represented by Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, Scott Douglass & McConnico LLP, and Kelly Hart & Hallman LLP.

Texas is represented by the state’s attorney general’s office, Norton Rose Fulbright US LLP, Cotton Bledsoe Tighe & Dawson, PC, Crenshaw Dupree & Milam, Cullen, Carsner, Seerden and Cullen LLP, and Walker Keeling LLP.

The cases are Texas v. Google LLC, Tex. Dist. Ct., No. 22-01-88230-D, 5/9/25 and Texas v. Google, LLC, Tex. Dist. Ct., No. CV58999, 5/9/25.