A US federal court has ordered Google to pay $425m (£316.3m) after finding the company breached users’ privacy by collecting data even when tracking features were turned off.
The ruling followed a class action lawsuit brought in July 2020 on behalf of about 98 million users and 174 million devices. Plaintiffs accused Google of secretly accessing mobile devices to collect, store and use personal data, despite assurances given through its Web & App Activity setting. They had sought more than $31bn in damages.
Jurors found the internet giant liable on two of three privacy claims but concluded it had not acted with malice. The lawsuit alleged that Google’s practices extended to hundreds of thousands of apps, including Uber, Lyft, Amazon, Alibaba, Instagram and Facebook.
Responding to the decision, a Google spokesperson said: “This decision misunderstands how our products work, and we will appeal it. Our privacy tools give people control over their data, and when they turn off personalisation, we honour that choice.”
The company maintains that when Web & App Activity is disabled, businesses using Google Analytics may still collect usage data, but insists this information does not identify individual users and respects privacy preferences.
The verdict comes in the same week that Google’s parent company, Alphabet, saw its shares surge by more than 9% after another ruling in its favour. District Judge Amit Mehta decided the company will not have to sell its Chrome web browser following a US Justice Department antitrust case, though Google must share search data with competitors and is barred from exclusive contracts.
The long-running competition case focused on Google’s dominance in search, particularly its position as the default engine on Android, Chrome and Apple devices.
Meanwhile, Google faces a separate antitrust battle over advertising technology. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled in April that the firm holds a monopoly in that sector and will preside over a remedies trial later this month.
Boluwatife Enome
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