Google Ordered to Pay $425 Million Over Privacy Violations

A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Google must pay $425 million for infringing on user privacy by continuing to collect data from millions of individuals who had disabled tracking features on their accounts. This ruling came out of a trial held in a San Francisco federal court, where it was alleged that Google had accessed user mobile devices to gather, store, and utilize data over an eight-year span, breaching privacy guarantees linked to its Web & App Activity settings.

The plaintiff had initially sought over $31 billion in damages.

The judge concluded that Google was liable for two out of three privacy violation claims presented by the plaintiff. Interestingly, the judge also noted that Google did not act with malicious intent, which meant punitive damages weren’t warranted.

A spokesperson from Google confirmed the verdict but maintained that the company engaged in no fraudulent activities.

A class action lawsuit filed back in July 2020 claimed that Google continued to harvest user data even when tracking settings were turned off. It pointed out partnerships with apps like Uber, Venmo, and Instagram, which also utilize certain Google Analytics services.

During the trial, Google argued that the data collected was stored impersonally, in pseudonymous formats, and in secure, encrypted locations.

The judge overseeing the case, Richard Sieborg, certified it as a class action, potentially affecting around 98 million Google users across 174 million devices.

This isn’t the first time Google has faced privacy-related lawsuits. Earlier this year, the company settled a case with Texas for about $1.4 billion, stemming from accusations of violating state privacy laws.

Additionally, in April 2024, Google agreed to resolve another lawsuit that claimed it had destroyed billions of records of users’ private browsing activities, allegedly tracking individuals during “Incognito” mode.