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Google ordered to pay $425 million US for privacy violations in class-action case

Google Ordered to Pay $425 Million for Privacy Violation

In a landmark decision, a U.S. federal jury has ruled that Alphabet’s Google must pay $425 million for invading users’ privacy by collecting data from millions of users who had turned off a tracking feature in their Google account.

The verdict follows a trial in the Federal Court in San Francisco, where it was alleged that Google accessed users’ mobile devices over an eight-year period to collect and use their data, in violation of privacy assurances under its Web and App Activity setting.

While the users were seeking over $31 billion in damages, the jury found Google liable on two of the three claims of privacy violations. However, the jury determined that Google had not acted with malice and therefore was not entitled to punitive damages.

Google, which denied any wrongdoing, confirmed the verdict through a spokesperson.

The class-action lawsuit, filed in July 2020, claimed that Google continued to collect users’ data even with the setting turned off through its partnerships with apps like Uber, Venmo, and Instagram that use Google analytics services.

Participants make their way through a Google booth and display at the APEC summit in Lima, Peru, in 2024. The U.S. federal jury found Google liable for invading users’ privacy who had switched off a tracking feature (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

During the trial, Google argued that the collected data was nonpersonal, pseudonymous, and securely stored and encrypted. The company maintained that the data was not linked to users’ Google accounts or individual identities.

U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg certified the case as a class action, covering approximately 98 million Google users and 174 million devices.

This is not the first privacy lawsuit Google has faced, as earlier this year, the company settled with Texas for nearly $1.4 billion over privacy law violations.

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In April 2024, Google agreed to delete billions of records of users’ private browsing activities to resolve a lawsuit alleging tracking of users who believed they were browsing privately, even in “incognito” mode.

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