Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has positioned his state as the nation’s leader in data privacy enforcement, securing billions in settlements from tech giants and launching aggressive investigations into over 200 companies during the past year.
The announcement from the AG’s office highlights Texas’ emergence as a regulatory powerhouse in digital privacy, utilizing state laws to extract record penalties from Meta, Google, and other tech companies while pushing boundaries in enforcement against emerging threats, such as AI and Chinese apps.
“Over the past year, I’ve taken strong action against Big Tech, foreign entities, and other bad actors who sought to illegally use Texans’ private and sensitive data. And we have won, achieving historic, record-setting settlements against companies such as Google and Meta, and enforcing state laws against social media companies for failing to protect children online,” Paxton said.
The settlements represent staggering sums: $1.4 billion from Meta for unauthorized biometric data capture and $1.375 billion from Google for unlawfully collecting location and biometric information.
Paxton’s office became the first state attorney general to sue under comprehensive data privacy laws and to take on General Motors for allegedly selling driver data to insurers. The enforcement push extends to social media platforms, with lawsuits against TikTok and investigations into the child safety practices of Character.AI, Reddit, Instagram, and Discord.
The attorney general also secured what his office called a first-of-its-kind settlement involving the misrepresentation of healthcare AI. His team moved swiftly against the Chinese AI company DeepSeek for violating Texas privacy laws.
“Texas is the watchdog for the nation’s privacy rights and freedoms, and I will continue doing all I can to protect Texans from new threats to their personal data and digital security,” Paxton stated.
Since launching a consumer complaint portal in July 2024, the office has fielded over 2,000 privacy complaints. The enforcement drive has resulted in data broker registrations in Texas exceeding 200, with the attorney general issuing violation notices to dozens of non-compliant companies.
Texas enforces multiple privacy statutes, including the Data Privacy and Security Act, the Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act, and the Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment Act. The broad legal framework gives Paxton’s office extensive authority over tech companies operating in the state.