Google is suing the US CSFB for government overreach

Google has filed a lawsuit to challenge an order from the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CSFB) that gives it the right to "conduct examinations on a periodic basis" to see if the company complies with consumer financial laws. 

The consumer finance watchdog has aimed at Google Pay and Google Pay Balance. In a published report (via Engadget), CSFB said there was "reasonable cause to determine that Google has engaged in conduct posing risks to consumers." 

It outlined two issues, one relating to "allegedly erroneous transactions have posed risks to consumers," and "prevention of fraudulent and unauthorized transactions" that CSFB claims posed "risks to consumers." 

The CSFB acknowledged that the Google Pay App was "discontinued" in February 2024, and the Google Pay Balance platform was "available for limited purposes," but that was not enough from "designating Google for supervision, though it may influence whether the CFPB determines whether to conduct an examination."

In the lawsuit, Google argued that "a product that no longer exists is incapable of posing such risk." In a statement shared with TechCrunch, a company spokesperson said, "This is a clear case of government overreach involving Google Pay peer-to-peer payments, which never raised risks and is no longer provided in the U.S., and we are challenging it in court."