Texas Sues Google Over Use of Facial Images

“Google’s indiscriminate collection of the personal information of Texans, including very sensitive information like biometric identifiers, will not be tolerated,” Texas Attorney General

Ken Paxton

said. “I will continue to fight Big Tech to ensure the privacy and security of all Texans.”

The case follows a similar suit Texas brought against Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. in February. Meta, which discontinued its use of facial-recognition technology last year, said the claims were without merit.

In the latest complaint, Texas alleged Google had used features in Google Photos and Google Assistant, as well as its Nest smart-home products, to collect and store facial- and voice-recognition data without obtaining proper consent.

Google used the data for commercial purposes such as improving its artificial-intelligence algorithms and selling users cloud storage, Texas alleged.

A law passed in Texas in 2009, the Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act, outlawed the collection and sharing of biometric information in the state without informed consent.

“Google has now spent years unlawfully capturing the faces and voices of both non-consenting users and non-users throughout Texas—including our children and grandparents, who simply have no idea that their biometric information is being mined for profit by a global corporation,” Texas wrote in the complaint.

Google previously agreed to pay $100 million to settle a class-action lawsuit in Illinois alleging the company’s face-grouping tool violated Illinois privacy laws. A Google spokesman said at the time that the feature allowed users to easily find old photos and that it could easily be turned off.

Texas is also leading a coalition of states suing Google for allegedly anticompetitive behavior in online advertising markets. Google has fought the claims and called some of them misleading. A federal judge last month denied the bulk of Google’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Mr. Paxton, who is up for re-election next month, has been one of the tech industry’s most vocal critics. His office has also argued in favor of a Texas law that seeks to prohibit social-media platforms from blocking or removing posts based on the speaker’s viewpoint.

A federal appeals court last month upheld the law, potentially setting the stage for the Supreme Court to resolve a case with broad ramifications for online discourse.

Write to Miles Kruppa at [email protected]