In May, Google agreed to pay $1.375 billion to settle two lawsuits in the U.S. state of Texas, which alleged that the company used so-called dark patterns to collect users’ personal data without proper consent.
The lawsuits, originally filed in 2022, claimed that Google misled users by designing its user interface in a way that hid or made it difficult for users to control data collection – particularly regarding location data, searches conducted in “incognito” mode, and biometric information. The settlement addresses allegations that the company violated Texas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act, and includes a court order requiring greater transparency and restrictions on certain design practices going forward.
This agreement aligns with broader regulatory trends in Europe, where authorities are increasingly scrutinizing manipulative design patterns and how user consent for data collection is obtained – especially for advertising purposes. The European Union is also preparing new legislation, the Digital Fairness Act, which aims to further regulate the use of dark patterns across digital platforms.
