SAN FRANCISCO — Google reached an agreement with a group of state attorneys general on Thursday over how officials will handle information it provides during their antitrust investigation into the company.

Settling an early dispute in the case, the agreement requires the states to protect confidential information provided by Google and governs how it can be shared, according to a copy reviewed by The New York Times.

As part of their inquiry, the states, led by Ken Paxton, the attorney general of Texas, asked Google for information related to its digital ads business. In October, Google asked a court to issue a protective order over information furnished to Mr. Paxton.

Google also asked for certain restrictions on advisers to the states who work for its competitors, including the media giant News Corp and the Russian search engine Yandex. Specifically, Google said there should be a “cooling off” period to keep them from working with its competitors.