Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday announced that the state had secured a nearly $1.4 billion settlement with Google over a case regarding Texans’ data privacy and security rights. 

The state sued Google in 2022 for illegally tracking and collecting Texan Chrome users’ private locations, incognito search data and biometric data. 

Paxton's office said the settlement marks the highest amount a state has received against Google in similar cases, with the largest previous settlement over privacy violations being $93 million.

“In Texas, Big Tech is not above the law. For years, Google secretly tracked people’s movements, private searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry through their products and services," Paxton said in a statement. "I fought back and won. This $1.375 billion settlement is a major win for Texans’ privacy and tells companies that they will pay for abusing our trust. 

"I will always protect Texans by stopping Big Tech’s attempts to make a profit by selling away our rights and freedoms," he added.

Google spokesman Jose Castaneda told CNBC that the company did not have to admit any wrongdoing in the settlement, and that it did not need to make any changes because a lot of the claims were outdated.

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

The settlement comes after Paxton also won a $1.4 billion settlement with Meta last July in a similar case, after it allegedly unlawfully collected and used Texan facial recognition data.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.