Google filed a lawsuit against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Friday, contesting the agency’s ruling to subject Google’s payment section to government oversight.
Google stated in a draft of the lawsuit that the CFPB’s oversight would be a “burdensome form of regulation” that was adopted in response to a “small number of unsubstantiated user complaints.” The Google peer-to-peer payment product that was no longer available in the US was the subject of the CFPB’s ruling.
The case was launched in a US district court in Washington, DC, following the publication of an order by the CFPB announcing its supervisory jurisdiction over Google Payment Corp. The government claimed that consumers might be at risk due to Google’s handling of its payment products.
Customer concerns were noted by the CFPB, including the claim that Google neglected to adequately look into cases in which money was transmitted incorrectly.
Amid a push into financial products by major digital companies like Google, Apple, and Samsung, there is a legal battle between Google and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a government organisation established to enforce consumer protection laws.
Google spokesperson José Castañeda claimed in a statement that users were never at risk from Google’s payment products.
“Google Pay peer-to-peer payments, which never posed risks and are no longer offered in the U.S., are a blatant example of government overreach, and we are contesting this in court,” he stated.
Google said that the CFPB had made a legal mistake by establishing an “exceedingly low bar” for what constitutes adequate risks to customers in the company’s complaint.
“A product that is no longer in production cannot pose such risks,” the lawsuit stated.
The CFPB asserted, however, that Google was still subject to regulatory oversight when its payment products were discontinued.
If the CFPB had supervisory authority over Google’s payments section, it could monitor the company’s activities and make sure they adhere to consumer financial regulations. As part of its lawsuit, Google said the CFPB would conduct on-site inspections and obtain private papers and data.
The CFPB said it would start looking into nonbank financial organisations that are dangerous to customers in 2022.
“We can move as fast as the market thanks to this authority, which enables us to examine financial firms that pose risks to consumers and prevent harm before it spreads,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra stated in 2022.
