State AGs (Including Texas) Say Google Abused User Location Data
Like buckshot fired at close range, the more times you rail against tech, the more likely you’re going to strike on a grain of truth. That’s the case with Texas and its anti-tech lawsuits. As much as Texas wants to appear a maverick against the wiles of big tech, practically the only success its found is when it is just one part of multi-state investigations into the wiles of big tech and telecommunication companies.
This is evident going back many years, like when in 2015 telecommunication companies Sprint and Verizon agreed to multi-million dollar settlements over so-called “mobile cramming,” where customer phone bills are used for unauthorized charges placed by third parties without user consent. The companies settled for $158 million, but Texas only received $1.65 million.
Otherwise, there have been lawsuits from Washington state, Indiana, Washington D.C. and Texas alleging that Google pressures users to relinquish user location data. The suits further claim that Google’s options to limit what data gets shared is insufficient.
Texas had previously dropped other antitrust lawsuits against Google, focusing on digital ads rather than claiming Google has abused its monopoly.
It’s all part of a greater push against the Google hydra to cut its advertising end and its technology end. Texas has also previously created an antitrust lawsuit against the way the company uses its marketplace to price its ads.
