Consumers Affected
1,500,000
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against General Motors for unlawfully collecting private driving data from over 1.5 million Texas drivers without consent and selling the data to third parties including insurance companies. GM allegedly deceived customers into enrolling in products like OnStar Smart Driver by falsely claiming enrollment was required to retain vehicle safety features, while concealing that enrollment authorized systematic collection and sale of detailed driving data. The action follows an investigation launched in June 2024 as part of the Texas AG’s data privacy initiative, and seeks to hold GM accountable for violating state privacy laws.
In-house legal teams should review all vendor and partner agreements with automotive manufacturers, telematics providers, insurance companies, and data analytics firms to ensure explicit, informed consumer consent is obtained for any collection, use, or sale of driving, location, or vehicle telematics data. Clauses governing data sharing, third-party sales, and consumer notice must be updated to prohibit deceptive or coercive enrollment practices (such as threatening deactivation of vehicle safety features to compel consent), require clear and conspicuous disclosure of all data collection and sale activities, and ban the use of dark patterns in onboarding processes. Contracts with data buyers should include restrictions on downstream use of driving data, require verification of valid consumer consent prior to purchase, and mandate compliance with all applicable state privacy laws. Additionally, agreements involving generation of driving scores or consumer profiling should be audited to confirm they align with consent and notice requirements, and include provisions for consumer opt-out of data collection and sale.
Entity
General Motors
Industry
AutomotiveOfficial Press Release
https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-sues-general-motors-unlawfully-collecting-drivers-private-data-and
General Motors Original Petition Filestamped
https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/images/press/General%20Motors%20Original%20Petition%20Filestamped.pdf
Texas Attorney General Enforcement Page
https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/consumer-protection/privacy
"General Motors"
"August 13, 2024"
"Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton"
"without their knowledge or consent"
"despite lengthy and convoluted disclosures, General Motors never informed its customers of its actual conduct—the systematic collection and sale of their highly detailed driving data."
"sold this information to several other companies, including to at least two companies for the purpose of generating “Driving Scores” about GM’s customers and selling these scores to insurance companies."
$12.8M
California Attorney General Rob Bonta, along with multiple district attorneys and the California Privacy Protection Agency, announced a $12.75 million settlement with General Motors for illegally selling hundreds of thousands of Californians' location and driving data to data brokers Verisk and LexisNexis without notice or consent. The settlement includes the largest CCPA penalty to date, a five-year ban on selling driving data to consumer reporting agencies, and requirements to delete retained data and implement a robust privacy program.
$12.8M
CalPrivacy and the California Attorney General secured a $12.75 million settlement from General Motors for data sharing practices from connected vehicles. The settlement includes injunctive terms to change business practices.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opened an investigation into TriWest Healthcare Alliance Corp., the U.S. government contractor that administers the VA Community Care Network and the Defense Health Agency's TRICARE West Region, over reports that it wrongfully denied health care claims by falsely treating insureds as having other health insurance (OHI). The OAG has issued Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs) and plans to interview consumers and employees to determine whether TriWest violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. No findings or penalties have been imposed yet.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Amazon.com, Inc. on August 31, 2026, alleging Amazon deceived advertisers by claiming to run second-price auctions while secretly applying hidden surcharges and undisclosed 'soft reserve' prices that pushed winners' costs up by roughly 17% on ordinary days and more than 25% during peak events like Prime Day. The hidden surcharges generated roughly $4.5 billion in additional nationwide revenue in 2024, and more than 18,000 Texas sellers and vendors advertise on the platform. The State brings claims under the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, seeking civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation, an injunction against inaccurate auction descriptions, and per-auction pricing records for every Texas advertiser; the FTC and a coalition of other states filed a parallel federal action the same day.
$1.0B
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a historic settlement with Meta Platforms, Inc. requiring Meta to pay over $1 billion and implement significant new safeguards to protect children online. The settlement includes stricter age-assurance measures, a daily two-hour limit for teen users, default disabling of notifications during school hours, hidden likes/reactions, and a nighttime access mode restricting features for children.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an industry-wide investigation into companies marketing avocado oil products that may contain undisclosed seed oils. Civil Investigative Demands were issued to Primal Kitchen, Siete Foods, and Chosen Foods, with more companies expected to be investigated for potential violations of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.