A federal jury in California has ordered Google to pay $425 million for violating user privacy by collecting the data of millions of people even after they disabled tracking, as reported earlier by Reuters.
The decision stems from a class action lawsuit filed in July 2020, which accused Google of unlawfully accessing app activity data on users’ mobile phones from July 2016 to September 2024. The lawsuit alleged that during this period, Google continued to collect user data across third-party apps even if they had the “Web & App Activity” setting turned off.
The Web & App Activity setting is supposed to control how Google collects information related to your searches, location, and activity on third-party sites, apps, and devices that partner with Google to show ads. Google says it uses this information to provide you with “more personalized experiences.”
The jury found Google liable for two of three claims brought by the class action lawsuit, including invasion of privacy and intrusion upon seclusion. The class, which covers around 98 million users and 174 million devices, originally sought over $31 billion in compensatory damages.
Google plans to appeal the verdict. “This decision misunderstands how our products work,” Google spokesperson José Castañeda said in a statement to The Verge. “Our privacy tools give people control over their data, and when they turn off personalization, we honor that choice.” Google argues that it treats data pseudonymously when users turn off the Web & App Activity setting, and claims that users “knew and consented” to this practice.
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