May 10 (UPI) — Google will pay $1.375 billion to settle a 2022 data privacy lawsuit, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Friday.
The lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Texas accused Google of unlawfully tracking and collecting users’ private data on their geolocation, incognito searches and biometric data.
“In Texas, big tech is not above the law,” Paxton said in a news release. “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 the lawsuit is part multistate effort to hold Google accountable for data privacy violations.
“For years, Google secretly tracked people’s movements, private searches and even their voiceprints and facial geometry through their products and services,” Paxton said. “I fought back and won.”
He said Google agreed to pay Texas much more than it did to settle similar lawsuits filed by other states.
No other state received more than $93 million from Google to settle data privacy violations claims, and a coalition of 40 states split a $391 million settlement, which is nearly $1 billion less than the Texas settlement.
Paxton did not say how the settlement would be used or if Texans would receive a portion of it.
Texas similarly secured a $1.4 billion settlement from Facebook-owner Meta for data privacy violations after Paxton sued the tech firm for collecting and using Texans’ facial recognition data.
Parent corporation Alphabet’s share price tumbled slightly on Friday following the announcement of the $1.375 billion settlement.
The share price initially rose to a high of $156.14 shortly after trading opened Friday morning by tumbled to a low of $153.95 during afternoon trading, according to NASDAQ.
The share price recovered slightly during after-hours trading with a final price of $154.17.
The share price continued declining on Saturday with a low of $152.27 and remained generally level into the afternoon hours.
Google did not respond to a request for comment made on Saturday afternoon.