Google Sues CFPB Over Supervision of Payment Division
Google has filed a lawsuit against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in the US district court in Washington, DC, challenging the agency’s decision to place Google’s payment division under federal supervision. The move comes after the CFPB published an order announcing supervisory authority over Google Payment Corp., citing customer complaints and alleged failures to properly investigate instances of money being transferred in error.
According to Google, the CFPB’s decision is a “burdensome form of regulation” based on a “small number of unsubstantiated user complaints.” The company argues that its payment products never posed a risk to consumers and that the CFPB’s decision is a clear case of government overreach. The company also claims that the CFPB set an “exceedingly low bar” for what it counts as sufficient risks to consumers and that the discontinuation of Google’s payment products should release it from agency supervision.
The CFPB, which was founded to enforce consumer protection laws, contends that supervisory authority over Google’s payments division is necessary to ensure compliance with consumer financial laws and to protect consumers from potential harm. The agency has the authority to conduct on-site examinations and request confidential documents and information from companies under its supervision.
This legal fight between Google and the CFPB comes amid a push by big tech companies, including Google, Apple, and Samsung, into financial products. The CFPB’s move to supervise nonbank financial institutions that pose a risk to consumers was announced in 2022, with the goal of preventing harm to consumers and ensuring that financial companies comply with consumer financial laws.