Google pays Texas $1.4 billion to settle knowledge privateness violation lawsuits

Google has agreed to pay the state of Texas $1.375 billion to settle two lawsuits accusing the corporate of violating its residents’ knowledge privateness rights. Texas Lawyer Common Ken Paxton sued Google in 2022, alleging that it collected customers’ biometrics with out their specific consent and continued to trace their location even after they’ve disabled the function. Within the Attorney General’s website, his workplace stated that it is the largest quantity Google has agreed to pay to resolve related lawsuits for knowledge privateness violations. “For years, Google secretly tracked individuals’s actions, non-public searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry by means of their services and products. I fought again and received,” Paxton stated.

When the Lawyer Common filed the lawsuit, Google advised Engadget that Paxton mischaracterized its merchandise. One among Paxton’s complaints, as an example, was that Google used options in Pictures and Assistant to scan individuals’s faces. The corporate’s spokesperson advised us that Pictures solely scanned faces in order that customers can group pictures of the identical individual for group. Google consultant Jose Castaneda advised CNBC that the corporate isn’t admitting any wrongdoing or legal responsibility by agreeing to settle. He stated Google does not should make any adjustments to its merchandise as a part of the settlement. “This settles a raft of previous claims, lots of which have already been resolved elsewhere, regarding product insurance policies we now have lengthy since modified,” he stated.

In July 2024, Meta also agreed to pay Texas $1.4 billion to settle an identical lawsuit that accused the corporate of amassing its residents’ facial recognition knowledge. Paxton stated Meta violated the state’s Seize or Use of Biometric Identifier Act “billions of occasions” by tagging photographs and movies with out customers’ consent.

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