Paxton links Big Tech lawsuits to Senate campaign
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is pairing actions against major tech companies with a U.S. Senate campaign focused on child safety and privacy enforcement.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a new round of lawsuits and opened investigations against major tech companies while making those fights central to his U.S. Senate campaign. In the final days of his GOP runoff campaign, Paxton sued Netflix, WhatsApp and Discord and opened another investigation into Meta, according to the report.
The report says the actions reflect how Paxton’s office has used Texas consumer protection and privacy laws as an enforcement tool while he seeks higher office. It also says that approach has produced some of the largest settlements in state litigation history and given Paxton a recurring political message as he prepares for a race against Austin Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.
What happened
Paxton’s latest filings continued a pattern that legal experts described as unusually aggressive. The report says his office has filed at least two dozen lawsuits against large tech companies in the past five years. It also says he created a dedicated Big Tech privacy-enforcement division in summer 2024 within the Office of the Attorney General.
In his victory speech, Paxton said he had sued major companies for exposing children to addictive material and said he would keep fighting to protect Texas children from Big Tech, according to the report.
Why it matters
The report says Paxton’s tactics have been effective both in court and politically. Texas has secured two of the largest settlements ever obtained by a state from a tech company, including a $1.4 billion settlement with Meta in 2024 over alleged collection of Texas users’ biometric data without permission and a $1.4 billion settlement with Google announced in October 2025 over alleged tracking of Texas users’ data without permission.
The money from the Meta case is paid over several years and goes to the Texas State Treasury as state revenue, the report says. Paxton’s office described that deal as the largest ever obtained from a lawsuit brought by a single state.
Background and context
The report says Paxton’s office frequently relies on the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices-Consumer Protection Act, the Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act, the Securing Children Online Through Parental Empowerment Act, the Texas Data Privacy and Security Act and the Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act.
It says the biometric law has been on the books since 2009 and bars collection of biometric data without consent. The article also says the state’s newer AI law includes measures aimed at AI that manipulates human behavior and creates deepfakes.
In December 2024, Paxton’s office said it would investigate 15 AI and social media companies over safety and privacy practices for minors. The report also says state attorneys general across the country are increasingly taking legal action against Big Tech and that Texas ranks among the most prolific.
What officials said
According to the report, Paxton said tech companies’ growing ability to collect and sell user data justified the enforcement focus. Legal experts quoted in the piece said Texas law and a sympathetic federal appeals court have made the state a powerful venue for Big Tech litigation.
Republican strategist Brendan Steinhauser and lawyer Joanna Forster also discussed the political value of the enforcement actions, while Matthew F. Ferraro said states across the political spectrum are targeting Big Tech, the report says.
The Paxton and Talarico campaigns, along with the Texas Attorney General’s Office, did not respond to requests for comment, according to the report.
What happens next
The report says Paxton’s Senate campaign is likely to keep featuring his fights with large tech companies as the race against Talarico develops. It also says companies face a patchwork of state laws and court rulings that make compliance more difficult, while the federal government has done little to address the issue.
Sources
Editorial note: This article was prepared with AI assistance and includes source attribution for reader review.
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