Paxton: 'I am not going to let Google succeed in deceiving Texans'

The State of Texas' lead legal counsel amended a lawsuit against Google to assert the company's "incognito mode" on its Chrome browser runs afoul of the Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA), Austin NBC affiliate KXAN reported. 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in the revised complaint that the Mountain View, California-based multinational technology company misrepresented that it's not tracking users’ search history and location, according to the station.

The station reported that Paxton, a Republican, is part of a bipartisan group of attorneys general suing Google, having entered the legal battle in January.

The AG claims the tech giant solicited users' location data to third parties despite being able to opt out, further accusing it of continuing to deceive users with its private browsing feature.

“Google claims to give users control and to respect their choice, but in reality, regardless of the settings users select, the Big Tech giant is still hard at work collecting and monetizing the location and other personal information that users seek to keep private,” the AG, who faces a party primary on Tuesday (May 24) said, according to KXAN. “I am not going to let Google succeed in deceiving Texans."

Through a spokesperson, the station reported, Google countered that Paxton's case is rooted in "inaccurate claims and outdated assertions about our settings."

"We have always built privacy features into our products and provided robust controls for location data," the company said, per KXAN. "We strongly dispute these claims and will vigorously defend ourselves to set the record straight.”