Texas Attorney General sues GM for unlawfully selling drivers’ data

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against General Motors , accusing the automaker of false, deceptive, and misleading practices related to the unlawful collection and sale of over 1.5 million Texans’ private driving data to insurance companies without consent.

This lawsuit follows Paxton’s June 2024 investigation into car manufacturers’ data collection practices, revealing that GM used technology in most 2015 or newer vehicles to gather and sell detailed driving information.

GM allegedly misled customers during the vehicle onboarding process, compelling them to enroll in services like OnStar Smart Driver under the guise of safety feature activation, while secretly collecting and selling their data. Paxton emphasized the importance of holding companies accountable for violating citizens’ privacy rights.

The State is seeking more than $1 million in monetary relief, which includes penalties, attorney’s fees, litigation expenses, restitution, and other related costs, in addition to injunctive relief to stop the wrongful actions.