Google sues to stop the US from monitoring it like a bank

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced on Friday it had placed Google Payment Corp. under federal supervision, reports Reuters. Google reportedly filed a lawsuit to block the CFPB’s order, which could result in routine inspections and monitoring like those imposed on banks.

The agency found that Google’s error resolution and fraud prevention processes pose risks to consumers, citing customer complaints about Google Pay Balance and Google’s peer-to-peer payments. Those complaints include that Google didn’t seem to fully investigate fraudulent charges and didn’t “adequately explain” the results of those investigations.

The CFPB says its finding that Google should be supervised doesn’t mean the company is “guilty of wrongdoing.” It also notes in its order that Google Pay and the P2P platform were discontinued earlier this year.

Google claims in its lawsuit that the order was based on unsubstantiated customer complaints about services that it doesn’t offer anymore, reports The Washington Post. Company spokesperson José Castañeda called the move “a clear case of government overreach” and claimed that Google Pay’s peer-to-peer payments “never raised risks,” in a statement to the outlet.