Texas
Google to pay Texas $1.4B to settle claims of unauthorized tracking, collecting of private data
Evercore ISI senior managing director Mark Mahaney analyzes Google after the stock dropped 26% from its February high on ‘Varney & Co.’
Google will pay $1.4 billion to Texas to settle a lawsuit claiming the company collected users’ data without permission, according to state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Paxton said the settlement sends a message to tech companies that he will not allow them to profit off “selling away our rights and freedoms.” He also said the agreement “is a major win for Texans’ privacy and tells companies that they will pay for abusing our trust.”
“In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law,” Paxton said in a statement. “For years, Google secretly tracked people’s movements, private searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry through their products and services. I fought back and won.”
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Google will pay $1.4 billion to Texas to settle a lawsuit claiming the company collected users’ data without permission. (Marlena Sloss/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
This is the largest amount won by any state in a settlement with Google over similar data-privacy violations, Paxton said.
The agreement settles several claims Texas made against Google in a 2022 lawsuit over geolocation, incognito searches and biometric data. The state argued Google was unlawfully tracking and collecting users’ private data.
Paxton claimed the tech giant collected millions of biometric identifiers, including voiceprints and records of face geometry, through applications like Google Photos and Google Assistant.
The agreement settles several claims Texas made against Google in a 2022 lawsuit over geolocation, incognito searches and biometric data. (Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Google said the agreement settles various “old claims,” including some related to product policies the company has already changed. The company said the settlement does not require any additional product changes.
“We are pleased to put them behind us, and we will continue to build robust privacy controls into our services,” Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in a statement to The Texas Tribune.
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said the settlement “is a major win for Texans’ privacy and tells companies that they will pay for abusing our trust.” (STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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Texas had previously reached two other settlements with Google within the last two years, including in December 2023 when the company agreed to pay $700 million and make several other concessions to settle allegations that it had been stifling competition against its Android app store.
Last year, Meta agreed to a $1.4 billion settlement with Texas over claims that the company used facial recognition software without users’ consent. The “tag suggestions” feature was specifically cited in the suit, as Facebook would run photos uploaded to the website through its facial recognition software and suggested people to tag in photos.
No. 1 seed Texas (51-12, 16-8 in SEC play) and No. 3 seed Texas Tech (61-8, 21-3 in the Big 12) begin their three-game series at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday in Oklahoma City. Each
Texas
Brazoria County deputy shoots, kills Texas State University student after car chase, report says
BRAZORIA COUNTY, Texas – A Texas State University student was shot and killed by a Brazoria County Sheriff’s deputy early Monday morning after an attempted traffic stop in Lake Jackson.
The news was first reported by The University Star, Texas State’s student-run newspaper.
In a Tuesday statement to KSAT, the university identified the student as John Gabriel Mendoza Jr., 18. He was a freshman who studied management, according to the school.
“We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, classmates, and all those affected by this tragedy,” the university said in its statement.
Deputies attempted a traffic stop on a vehicle just after midnight Monday near Farm-to-Market 2004 and This Way Street in Lake Jackson, the sheriff’s office said.
The driver of the vehicle, who was identified as Mendoza by The University Star, did not stop, deputies said. The deputies then chased after the vehicle for approximately a mile into a neighborhood located in the 100 block of Indian Warrior Trail.
According to the sheriff’s office, the driver went inside a home’s garage and parked before a deputy approached the vehicle, the release said.
The deputy then pulled out his firearm and shot into the vehicle. The sheriff’s office said the gunfire struck the driver.
The University Star reported that Mendoza was the one shot. He was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
The deputy who pulled the trigger has since been placed on administrative leave in accordance with the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office policy.
KSAT reached out to the Lake Jackson Police Department and the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office for more information, but neither agency has responded at this time.
The shooting investigation is being led by the Texas Rangers, according to a Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office news release.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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