As millions of people worldwide store their most precious memories on Google Photos, questions about privacy, data access, and biometric collection have moved from the margins to the mainstream. Recent legal settlements, regulatory actions, and technical revelations have shed new light on exactly what Google can see, use, and do with the photos users upload to its popular cloud storage service.
Google Photos has become one of the world’s most widely used photo storage platforms, boasting over one billion users globally. The service offers convenient features like automatic backup, intelligent search capabilities, and facial recognition technology. However, these conveniences come with significant trade-offs in terms of privacy and data access that many users may not fully understand.
This comprehensive news report examines verified facts about Google’s access to user photos, recent legal actions against the company, what encryption actually protects, and what rights users retain over their personal images stored in the cloud.
Historic Settlement Reveals Scope of Biometric Data Collection
In May 2025, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that Google had agreed to pay $1.375 billion to settle allegations that the tech giant unlawfully collected and used Texans’ private data without proper consent. This settlement represents the largest amount any single state has ever secured from Google for privacy violations, dwarfing previous multistate settlements.
The lawsuit, originally filed in 2022, accused Google of collecting biometric information including voiceprints and records of facial geometry through services like Google Photos and Google Assistant. According to the Texas Attorney General’s office, Google captured and used biometric identifiers without informed consent, violating the Texas Capture or Use of Biometric Identifier Act.
Attorney General Paxton stated in a press release that “for years, Google secretly tracked people’s movements, private searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry through their products and services.” The settlement, while not requiring Google to admit wrongdoing, sends a clear message about the scale of data collection practices that had been occurring behind the scenes.
Google spokesperson José Castañeda responded that the agreement settles “a raft of old claims” related to product policies the company has already changed. The company clarified that the settlement does not require any new product modifications, as Google maintains it has already updated relevant privacy controls.
Understanding What Google Can Technically Access
When users upload photos to Google Photos, they enter a system where Google maintains significant technical access to their content. Unlike services that offer end-to-end encryption where only users hold decryption keys, Google Photos uses server-side encryption, meaning Google itself holds the keys necessary to decrypt and view photo content.
Google encrypts data both during transmission and when stored on servers using Advanced Encryption Standard encryption and Transport Layer Security protocols. This protects photos from external hackers and unauthorized third parties. However, this encryption architecture fundamentally differs from end-to-end encryption because Google retains the ability to decrypt and access the actual content of photos.
This technical access enables Google Photos’ most popular features. The service uses machine learning to automatically recognize faces, objects, locations, and scenes within images. When a user uploads a photo of a cat, for instance, Google’s systems analyze the image content to categorize it appropriately and make it searchable.
Google has released a search feature for personal photos that gives users the ability to retrieve photos based on objects present in images. This breakthrough in computer vision technology demonstrated that automated systems could classify images to human standards, but it requires Google’s servers to access and process the unencrypted photo content.
Terms of Service: What Rights Users Grant to Google
The legal framework governing users’ photos on Google Photos is defined by Google’s Terms of Service, which outline both user rights and the permissions granted to Google. When users upload content to Google services, they provide Google with a license that covers content protected by intellectual property rights.
According to Google’s official Terms of Service, this license allows Google to host, reproduce, distribute, communicate, and use content to save it on their systems and make it accessible from anywhere. The license also permits Google to publish, publicly perform, or publicly display content if users have made it visible to others, and to modify and create derivative works based on content, such as reformatting or translating it.
Importantly, users retain ownership of their photos under this arrangement. The license granted to Google affects intellectual property rights but not privacy rights, lasting as long as the content is protected by intellectual property laws. If users remove content from Google services, the company’s systems will stop making that content publicly available within a reasonable timeframe, though exceptions exist for content already shared with others.
Google’s Terms of Service also specify that the company can use content for specific purposes including recognizing patterns in data, customizing services through recommendations and personalized search results, and using publicly shared content to promote services. For example, Google might quote a review written by a user to promote a Google app.
Machine Learning and Automated Photo Analysis
One of the most significant ways Google accesses uploaded photos is through automated machine learning systems that continuously analyze and categorize images. Google Photos uses sophisticated artificial intelligence to identify and organize images automatically, recognizing objects and scenes uploaded by users and then classifying images into albums while offering appropriate tags.
The service’s facial recognition technology has been particularly controversial. Face grouping automatically identifies similar faces and sorts them, making it easy for users to search and manage photos. However, this capability requires Google’s systems to create and store biometric identifiers based on facial geometry, which became a central issue in the Texas lawsuit.
Regarding how Google uses this analyzed data, the company states that personal data in Google Photos is never used for advertisements. Google also claims it doesn’t train generative AI models outside of Photos with users’ personal data, including other Gemini models and products. However, the Photos app itself does use machine learning models that process images to enable features like search, face grouping, and automated memories.
Google has introduced Gemini AI features into Google Photos, including Ask Photos and AI-powered title suggestions. The company maintains that responses from these AI features aren’t reviewed by humans unless users provide feedback or to address abuse or harm, which Google describes as rare. Prior to any human review, Google says it takes steps to protect privacy by disconnecting queries from Google Accounts and using specialized processes to remove sensitive content.
Content Moderation Raises Account Termination Concerns
Google maintains automated systems to detect illegal or harmful content uploaded to Google Photos, which requires scanning of user photos. The company’s policies prohibit child sexual abuse materials, content that exploits or abuses children, illegal activities, deceptive practices, hate speech, and impersonation. When these systems detect potential violations, the company may review content and take action.
After Google is notified of a potential policy violation, the company may restrict access to content, remove content, refuse to print content, and limit or terminate user access to Google products. This automated content moderation has occasionally led to controversial outcomes with serious consequences for users.
In 2022, The New York Times reported that Google wrongly flagged photos of toddlers taken by two fathers as being images of child abuse. One high-profile case involved a father in San Francisco who took photos of his son to send to a doctor for a medical consultation. Google’s automated systems flagged the images as harmful, reported him to police, and permanently deleted his entire account including emails, photos, and purchases.
Even after law enforcement cleared the man of any wrongdoing, Google refused to restore his data or reinstate his account. This incident highlighted the risks of automated content moderation systems and the potential for false positives to result in permanent loss of digital assets and account access.
Previous Legal Actions and Class Action Settlements
The Texas settlement is not Google’s first legal confrontation over privacy practices in Google Photos. In 2020, Illinois residents filed a class action lawsuit detailing how Google uploaded and extracted “faceprints” without permission, in violation of the state’s Biometric Information Privacy Act.
When Google Photos launched in 2015 with its auto-grouping capability powered by facial recognition, the company claimed that “all of this auto-grouping is private, for your eyes only.” However, the Illinois complaint argued that Google failed to obtain consent from anyone when it introduced its facial recognition technology, violating not only state law but also Federal Trade Commission guidelines.
The lawsuit emphasized that it wasn’t simply about whether Google users could turn off the functionality. The core issue was that subjects of photos were being processed by Google’s facial recognition technology without their consent, regardless of whether they were Google customers. Moreover, the claim that content was “only visible to you” ignored the fact that Google’s systems could see and analyze everything.
In 2022, Google settled this class action lawsuit for $100 million rather than fight the claims in court. This settlement resolved allegations that Google had violated user privacy by illegally collecting and storing images of people’s faces, though the company did not admit wrongdoing as part of the agreement.
Comparing Privacy Protections Across Platforms
Understanding how Google Photos handles privacy requires comparison with alternative services that take different architectural approaches. Apple’s iCloud Photos, for instance, offers an optional Advanced Data Protection feature that provides true end-to-end encryption where only users hold decryption keys.
With end-to-end encryption, data is encrypted before leaving a user’s device, and the service provider cannot decrypt it because they don’t possess the necessary encryption keys. This means that even if presented with a legal warrant, the company can only provide encrypted data that law enforcement cannot access without the user’s keys.
However, end-to-end encryption comes with significant trade-offs. By design, if the server operator cannot decrypt data, they cannot perform operations such as scanning, facial recognition, or object detection. These functions must be done locally on user devices, which Apple accomplishes through prioritizing on-device machine learning for photo analysis.
Google Photos does not currently offer end-to-end encryption, and the company has not announced plans to implement such a feature. This architectural decision allows Google to provide more sophisticated cloud-based AI features but means the company maintains technical capability to access all photo content. The choice reflects different priorities between functionality and absolute privacy.
Legal Requirements and Government Data Requests
By law, companies are required to provide user data they possess if presented with a valid warrant by law enforcement. These warrants aren’t always targeted toward individual users but can encompass groups of people, most of whom are innocent. Because Google holds the encryption keys to users’ photos, the company can be compelled to provide access to unencrypted images under legal circumstances.
This contrasts sharply with services offering true end-to-end encryption, where the service provider genuinely cannot access user data even if compelled by law enforcement. In such cases, the company can only provide encrypted data that is useless without the user’s private keys.
Google does not sell users’ personal information to anyone, according to the company’s official statements. Google also states it does not share personal information as that term is defined in the California Consumer Privacy Act. The company maintains compliance with various privacy regulations including the General Data Protection Regulation and California Consumer Privacy Act.
Users in different jurisdictions may have different rights regarding their data. The proliferation of state-level privacy laws in the United States has created a patchwork of regulations that companies like Google must navigate, with states like Texas, Illinois, and California taking particularly aggressive enforcement stances.
Security Measures and Infrastructure Protection
Despite not using end-to-end encryption, Google implements substantial security measures to protect user photos from external threats. Google services are continuously protected by what the company describes as the world’s most advanced security infrastructure. This built-in security detects and helps prevent online threats from external actors.
When users store photos, the data moves between their device, Google services, and data centers. Google protects this data with multiple layers of security, including encryption technology like HTTPS for data in transit and encryption at rest for data stored on servers. This means photos are encrypted during transmission and while stored on Google’s infrastructure.
However, a 2019 bug in Google Takeout, the tool that lets users download all their data, caused some users to receive videos from other people’s Google Photos libraries. This incident demonstrated that even within Google’s closed system, technical errors can compromise user privacy in unexpected ways.
Additional security features available to users include two-factor authentication, security checkups, and the Advanced Protection Program for accounts requiring the strongest security measures. Security Checkup makes it simple to check Google Account security status and get personalized tips to strengthen account protection.
User Control Options and Privacy Settings
Google provides several tools and settings that give users some control over how their photos are processed and shared. Users can find key information, privacy, and security settings in their Google Account, with tools like Dashboard and My Activity making it easy to view data saved in the account.
Several important privacy features are available within Google Photos. The Selective backup feature lets users pick and choose which media to share with Google, rather than automatically backing up all photos. Users can opt out of features like Memories and Face Grouping if they prefer not to have their media processed through these systems.
Location data management allows users to disable Location History and location data in their device’s camera app if they don’t want Google populating photos in a Map View. Web and App Activity auto-delete settings default to 18 months for new accounts, meaning activity data will be automatically deleted after this period rather than kept indefinitely.
When sharing albums, the default option is to share with specific people via their Google Account, giving users more control over who is added to albums. Users still have the option to share via a link for broader distribution, and sharing settings of albums can be updated at any time.
Photos and videos uploaded to Google Photos are private by default, meaning users must manually choose what to share with others. The Locked Folder feature provides an additional layer of privacy for sensitive images, though photos in this folder are not necessarily encrypted and remain stored on Google’s servers.
Third-Party Access Through APIs
Beyond Google’s own access, third-party applications can also access Google Photos through the Photos API, but this access is strictly controlled through developer policies. Partners who work with Google are required to comply with Google’s policies and cannot access any data without user permission.
Developers using Google Photos APIs must prioritize user privacy, be transparent about data usage, honor deletion requests, ensure data security, and limit data access to necessary permissions for user-benefitting features. These requirements are enforced through Google’s developer policies and security assessments.
The API policies specifically prohibit developers from selling user data or using user data for advertising purposes. Developers must provide clear and accurate disclosures about data access, collection, use, and sharing practices within their application or website. In 2025, Google announced significant changes to the Photos API, restricting certain scopes and methods effective March 31, 2025.
These changes include removing certain permissions and restricting several API calls to work only with photos and videos created by the requesting app. Google is encouraging developers who need photo selection functionality to migrate to the Google Photos Picker API, which provides more limited and controlled access to user content.
What Data Google Collects Beyond Photos Themselves
Google’s data collection extends beyond just image files to include various types of metadata and usage information. If users are signed into their Google Account and have Web and App Activity turned on, activity data on Google sites, apps, and services may be saved in the account’s Web and App Activity.
Google collects data about the apps, browsers, and devices users employ to access its services, including device and browser type, IP address, crash reports, system activity, and the date, time, and referrer URL of requests. This information helps Google provide services across different devices and troubleshoot technical issues.
Depending on settings and services used, Google may collect location information such as GPS and other sensor data, location history, and places labeled on Google Maps, as well as information about nearby devices such as Wi-Fi access points, Bluetooth-enabled devices, and cell towers. According to Google’s privacy policy, the company collects content users create, upload, or receive from others when using services, including emails, photos and videos saved, documents created, and comments made on YouTube videos.
Google uses leading anonymization techniques to protect data while making services work better for users. The company aggregates and anonymizes data from millions of users to suggest alternate routes in Maps and applies differential privacy that adds noise to information so it can’t be used to personally identify individuals. However, these privacy-preserving technologies apply more to aggregated data used to improve services than to individual photo storage and processing.
Privacy Concerns and Expert Recommendations
Privacy advocates and security experts have raised consistent concerns about Google Photos’ architecture and data practices. Anna Bacciarelli, the associate tech director at Human Rights Watch, has stated that facial recognition surveillance of the type enabled by Google Photos undermines rights enshrined in international human rights law, including privacy, non-discrimination, expression, and assembly rights.
The lack of end-to-end encryption means Google maintains access to all photo content, which creates risks beyond just the company’s own use of data. If hackers successfully penetrate Google’s systems, they could potentially access both encrypted data and the keys to decrypt it. With end-to-end encryption, even successful hacks would only yield encrypted data without the means to decrypt it.
Privacy-focused alternatives to Google Photos have emerged, with some offering true end-to-end encryption where photos are encrypted on user devices before upload and only users hold decryption keys. These services position themselves as ideal private photo backup solutions for sensitive personal memories, though they may lack some of the advanced AI features Google Photos offers.
Security experts recommend that users carefully consider whether cloud storage is appropriate for highly sensitive images. Some photos may be better stored locally on encrypted external drives or devices rather than in any cloud service, regardless of the provider’s privacy promises.
Industry Context and Regulatory Trends
The Google Photos privacy issues exist within a broader context of increasing scrutiny on Big Tech companies’ data practices. The Texas settlement against Google came less than a year after the state secured a $1.4 billion settlement from Meta in July 2024, also related to biometric data collection through facial recognition technology.
At the federal level, there remains no cohesive consumer data privacy law in the United States, despite several efforts to introduce comprehensive legislation. This vacuum has emboldened state attorneys general to pursue aggressive enforcement actions under state laws. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been particularly active, setting up a specialized legal team to pursue Big Tech companies in June 2024.
The Texas Capture or Use of Biometric Data Act, introduced in 2009, has emerged as a powerful tool for privacy enforcement, mirroring some aspects of Illinois’ Biometric Information Privacy Act. These state laws prohibit companies from collecting or storing biometric information without first notifying individuals and obtaining affirmative consent.
The proliferation of state-level privacy laws creates compliance challenges for technology companies operating nationwide. California’s Consumer Privacy Act, Virginia’s Consumer Data Protection Act, and similar laws in other states each have different requirements and enforcement mechanisms, creating a complex regulatory landscape.
Google’s Response and Future Outlook
In response to privacy concerns and legal challenges, Google has made various statements emphasizing its commitment to user privacy. The company points out that it doesn’t sell user photos or use them for advertising purposes, and that it has implemented various privacy controls that users can adjust according to their preferences.
Google spokesperson José Castañeda has emphasized that many of the issues raised in recent lawsuits relate to “old claims” concerning product policies the company has already changed. Google maintains that it has updated relevant privacy controls and policies, though the company has not been required to make additional changes as part of recent settlements.
Looking forward, pressure may increase for Google to provide more privacy-focused options such as end-to-end encryption, even if such features come with functional limitations. Competitors offering encrypted alternatives are positioning privacy as a key differentiator, and user awareness of privacy issues continues to grow.
However, implementing end-to-end encryption would require fundamental changes to Google Photos’ architecture and would likely mean sacrificing some of the app’s most popular features, or requiring those features to run entirely on user devices. The challenge for Google is balancing user demand for privacy with the computational requirements of on-device processing and the convenience of cloud-based AI features.
Conclusion
The question of whether Google can access and use photos from Google Photos has a clear answer: yes, Google maintains significant technical access to user photos due to its server-side encryption architecture. This access enables the platform’s advanced features like facial recognition, intelligent search, and automatic organization, but it comes with substantial privacy implications that users should understand.
Recent legal settlements, including the historic $1.375 billion payment to Texas, have confirmed that Google collected biometric data including facial geometry through Google Photos without proper consent under state laws. While Google has not admitted wrongdoing and maintains it has updated its policies, these legal actions reveal the scope of data collection and analysis that occurs when users upload their photos to the service.
Unlike end-to-end encrypted alternatives where only users hold decryption keys, Google Photos’ architecture allows the company to decrypt and access photo content to provide its services. This means Google can comply with law enforcement requests for data, use automated systems to scan for prohibited content, and analyze photos through machine learning algorithms for feature provision.
Users retain ownership of their photos and have various privacy controls available, including selective backup, the ability to disable facial recognition and location tracking, and management of sharing settings. However, the fundamental architecture of the service means that privacy is limited by Google’s technical access rather than cryptographically guaranteed.
For users comfortable with Google’s data practices and privacy policies, Google Photos offers powerful and convenient features backed by robust security infrastructure that protects against external threats. For those with heightened privacy concerns, particularly regarding sensitive personal images, alternative services offering true end-to-end encryption or local storage solutions may be more appropriate.
As state-level privacy enforcement intensifies and user awareness grows, the landscape of cloud photo storage continues to evolve. Users must weigh the trade-offs between convenience and privacy, understanding that services offering the most advanced AI-powered features typically require the most extensive data access to function.
