(Reuters)-Google () agreed to pay $ 1.375 billion in a preliminary agreement signed with the American state of Texas related to allegations that the company violated the privacy of user data, as informed by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday.
The deal ends two lawsuits involving three products from the company, moved by alleged violations of Texas consumer protection laws.
“In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law. For years, Google has secretly tracked people’s movements, their private searches and even their impressions of vocal and facial geometry through their products and services. I fought and won,” Paxton said in a statement.
The details of the agreement were not disclosed. Texas Attorney General did not say how the money will be used.
Google said the agreement resolves allegations related to the anonymous navigation mode, location history and biometric data. The company did not admit any irregularity.
“This agreement ends a series of old allegations, many of which have been resolved elsewhere, and concerns product policies that we have changed for a long time,” said José Castañeda, Google spokesman. “We are pleased to leave this behind and we will continue to develop robust privacy controls in our services.”
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Paxton sued Google twice in 2022, claiming that the company had collected facial geometry records and vocal impressions of Texas residents without proper consent. He also accused the company of tracking users’ location even when they believed they disabled this feature, and fool users about anonymous navigation mode designed to offer private navigation.
According to a Google spokesman, the agreement does not require determining changes in the company’s products.
The goal, owner of Facebook and Instagram, agreed last year to pay $ 1.4 billion to end a lawsuit filed by Paxton, which claimed that the company collected and used facial recognition data illegally.
