TEXAS — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has taken on big tech and is fighting to keep his job in next week’s primary runoff election, has amended a lawsuit he filed against Google to include claims about incognito mode.

What You Need To Know

  • Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has amended an existing lawsuit against Google to include claims about incognito mode

  • Paxton argues Texans were led to believe they were browsing anonymously when using incognito mode but that is not the case

  • Google earlier stated that incognito mode allows users to browse the internet without their activity being saved to a browser or device but information may still be collected during those sessions

  • Paxton has sued Google five times

What is incognito mode? According to a news release from Paxton’s office, incognito mode “is a web browser function that implies to consumers that Google will not track your search history or location activity.”

 Also referred to as “private browsing” mode, Google has described it as follows:

“Incognito mode in Chrome gives you the choice to browse the internet without your activity being saved to your browser or device. As we clearly state each time you open a new incognito tab, websites might be able to collect information about your browsing activity during your session.”

That explanation is not good enough for Paxton, who argues Texans are being duped into believing they are browsing anonymously but that is not the case.

“[The lawsuit] argues that the company misled consumers by tracking their personal location without consent, and in many cases continued to track them after the feature was disabled by users, all of which constitute a violation of the Texas’ Deceptive Trade Practices Act,” the news release reads. “While Texas consumers were under the impression they were not being tracked, Google continued to use their private location information to boost company profits. The State now alleges that Google’s representations that users can avoid having their internet search and activity history recorded by using Incognito Mode are similarly misleading.”

Paxton has sued Google five times. This is not the first time Google has been sued over incognito mode.

“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,” Paxton wrote. “I am not going to let Google succeed in deceiving Texans.”        

The Associated Press contributed to this report.