Google Ordered To Pay $425 Million In App Data Collection Lawsuit

Google must salary $425 million to nan plaintiffs of a people action suit that accused nan institution of collecting users' information moreover aft they've turned disconnected a search feature, a national assemblage has decided. The lead plaintiff sued Google backmost successful July 2020, arguing that nan institution still harvested information moreover though it tells users they tin disable search nether Web & App Activity done its relationship pinch different apps, specified arsenic Uber and Instagram. US District Judge Richard Seeborg past certified nan suit arsenic people action, involving 98 cardinal Google users and 174 cardinal devices.

The plaintiffs' lawyers asked for $31 cardinal successful damages, but nan assemblage only recovered Google liable connected 2 of nan 3 privateness usurpation claims. Google didn't break nan California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act and didn't enactment retired of malice, nan assemblage found. As a result, nan assemblage concluded that nan plaintiffs aren't entitled to immoderate punitive damages.

In a statement, Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said that nan determination "misunderstands really [their] products work." He added that nan company's privateness devices springiness users power complete their information and insisted that Google honors people's prime to move disconnected personalization. Castaneda said that Google plans to appeal.

The institution faced respective akin privateness lawsuits successful nan past. Another 2020 suit accused Google of tracking users successful Incognito mode, and nan institution agreed to settle nan $5 cardinal suit successful 2023. A twelvemonth later, it admitted that it tin so cod accusation successful Incognito and promised to destroy billions of information collected from Incognito search to settee nan complaint.