Google has once again found itself at the center of a massive privacy enforcement action, agreeing to pay $190 million in legal fees to law firms representing the Texas Attorney General’s office. This payment comes as part of a larger $1.375 billion settlement resolving allegations that the company collected and misused sensitive data from Texas residents without proper consent.
The case centers on accusations that Google used biometric identifiers—such as facial geometry and voice data—alongside precise location tracking and “Incognito” browsing data in ways that misled consumers. While Google denies wrongdoing, the settlement represents one of the largest state-level privacy penalties in U.S. history and highlights the growing enforcement power of state attorneys general under emerging privacy laws.
Google’s Expanding Privacy Liabilities
The Texas settlement follows a broader pattern of privacy-related fines and settlements against Google across the globe. In recent years, Google has agreed to pay hundreds of millions to resolve similar claims, including:
- $391 million to a coalition of 40 U.S. states over misleading location tracking practices.
- $425 million in a separate case for collecting user data despite tracking being turned off.
- Multiple European fines exceeding €150 million under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
These settlements, combined with the new Texas deal, reflect a global shift: regulators and consumers are no longer tolerating vague privacy policies or hidden tracking practices. Transparency and consent are becoming business essentials rather than optional compliance measures.
Meta Faces Its Own Privacy Reckoning
Google is not alone in facing billion-dollar privacy consequences. Meta Platforms, Inc., the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has also been hit with several major fines across jurisdictions:
- In the European Union, Meta was fined €1.2 billion (approximately $1.3 billion) for unlawfully transferring EU user data to the United States, in violation of the GDPR.
- Meta was separately fined €251 million for exposing user data in a large-scale breach affecting over 29 million accounts.
- In Texas, Meta reached a $1.4 billion settlement over allegations that it used Texans’ facial recognition data without proper consent—another record-setting case in the privacy enforcement landscape.
Together, the fines faced by Meta and Google signal a decisive turn: large technology companies are being forced to account for how they collect, store, and use personal data. Regulators are using state and international privacy laws to set precedent and impose serious financial penalties for violations once considered minor or technical.
The Texas Data Privacy and Security Act
The legal backdrop to Google’s massive settlement is the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDPSA), which took effect on July 1, 2024. This law grants Texas residents expanded rights over their personal data, including the right to access, correct, delete, and opt out of the sale or use of their personal information for targeted advertising.
The TDPSA requires businesses operating in Texas—or those offering goods and services to Texans—to implement transparent privacy policies, minimize data collection, and conduct data protection assessments when processing sensitive data like biometrics or geolocation. Noncompliance can lead to fines of up to $7,500 per violation after a cure period.
What makes the TDPSA especially significant is its scope: it applies broadly to companies doing business with Texas residents, regardless of where the company is based. For global tech giants like Google and Meta, that means Texas regulators have a powerful new enforcement tool.
Why Businesses Must Take Privacy Frameworks Seriously
These settlements make one thing clear: privacy laws are no longer symbolic. The enforcement actions against Google and Meta demonstrate that the cost of ignoring compliance now easily exceeds the cost of building strong privacy frameworks. Businesses that collect or process user data—no matter their size—are under increasing scrutiny.
For companies operating in the United States, this means adopting comprehensive privacy frameworks modeled after the GDPR or standards such as ISO 27701 and NIST 800-53. Businesses should also implement automated consent and preference systems, data subject request workflows, and vendor management procedures that meet state-level requirements like the TDPSA.
Solutions such as the ones we offer here at CaptainCompliance.com provide automated infrastructure for consent management, cookie tracking, and privacy law compliance, helping companies reduce exposure to fines and litigation while maintaining consumer trust. While the average business is not going to have a billion dollar or 9 figure settlement there are hundreds of companies settling cases for millions of dollars each year because they didn’t know or understand the privacy risks for non-compliance until it was too late.
Practical Compliance Checklist
- Conduct a full data inventory to identify what personal and sensitive data is collected and where it flows.
- Update privacy notices and cookie policies to meet TDPSA and other state law requirements.
- Establish mechanisms for handling access, deletion, correction, and opt-out requests within 45 days.
- Perform Data Protection Assessments for high-risk processing such as biometric or targeted advertising data.
- Ensure all vendor and partner contracts include data-handling and security provisions aligned with privacy regulations.
- Implement consent management tools, like Captain Compliance, to handle multi-jurisdictional compliance automatically.
Avoid Google Size Privacy Fines
The message from both the Google and Meta cases is unmistakable: regulators are enforcing privacy laws with unprecedented vigor. Businesses that fail to take compliance seriously now face billion-dollar liabilities and reputational damage that can cripple even global corporations.
As privacy laws like the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act continue to spread, building a scalable compliance strategy is not just about risk avoidance—it’s about maintaining consumer trust and operational legitimacy. For companies seeking to future-proof their compliance programs, partnering with automated platforms such as ours can transform regulatory obligations into a source of competitive advantage and best of all we can automate the entire process for you.
