Google must pay $425M in privacy violation ruling

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A federal jury on Wednesday ruled that Google’s parent company, Alphabet, must pay $425 million for privacy violations involving millions of users who had disabled a specific tracking feature in their Google accounts. The case stemmed from allegations that, over more than eight years, Google accessed users’ mobile devices to gather, store, and utilize their data despite assurances to protect their privacy under Web & App Activity settings.

The lawsuit, filed in July 2020 as a class action, claimed that Google continued collecting data even when users had turned off the setting, especially through integrations with apps like Uber, Venmo, and Instagram, which depended on Google’s analytics tools. The plaintiffs had sought damages exceeding $31 billion.

While the jury found Google liable on two out of three privacy violation claims, it determined that the company did not act maliciously, and thus, was not liable for punitive damages. Google’s spokesperson confirmed the verdict, reaffirming that the company denied any misconduct.

Google has faced previous privacy-related lawsuits, including one earlier this year, which resulted in a nearly $1.4 billion settlement with Texas over privacy law violations. Additionally, in April 2024, Google agreed to delete billions of records related to users’ private browsing activities as part of an out-of-court settlement, following claims that it tracked users in “Incognito” mode when they believed their browsing was private.