Is Chrome's 'Incognito' Mode Really Private? Question Now Before Texas Court

Alphabet Inc GOOGL GOOG subsidiary Google was sued in Texas by Attorney General Ken Paxton over its private web browsing feature on Thursday.

What Happened: Paxton filed an amended privacy lawsuit against the search engine giant, adding to a lawsuit filed in January, reported Reuters.

Texas, Indiana, Washington State, and the District of Columbia reportedly filed separate cases against Google in state courts over its location-tracking practices as well in January.

The amended lawsuit filed by Texas alleges that Google deceptively collects personal data even when a user has turned on “incognito mode.”

Google said Paxton’s filing is “based on inaccurate claims and outdated assertions about our settings,” according to Reuters.

The search engine giant said it will “strongly dispute these claims” and “vigorously” defend itself to “set the record straight.”

See Also: How To Buy Apple (AAPL) Shares

Why It Matters: Paxton previously alleged Google continued to track the location of its users even though it sought to prevent it, reported Reuters.

On Google’s support pages, the company says that while incognito mode stops Chrome from saving browser activity to local history, it may still be visible to external parties such as websites you visit, your employer, network administrators, and search engines.

In April, rival Apple Inc AAPL left an industry-friendly privacy lobbying group, which counts Google as a member, saying the State Privacy and Security Coalition lobbied for weak privacy laws that benefit the industry instead of users.

Price Action: On Thursday, Alphabet Class A shares closed 1.35% lower at $2,207.68 in the regular session and fell 0.2% in extended trading. On the same day, the company’s Class C shares declined 1.5% in regular trading to $2,214.91, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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