A federal jury determined on Wednesday that Alphabet\u2019s Google must pay $425 million for invading users\u2019 privacy by continuing to collect data for millions of users who had switched off a tracking feature in their Google accounts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The verdict comes after a trial in the federal court in San Francisco over allegations that Google, over an eight-year period, accessed users\u2019 mobile devices to collect, save, and use their data, violating privacy assurances under its Web and App Activity setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The users had been seeking more than $31 billion in damages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The jury found Google liable on two of the three claims of privacy violations brought by the plaintiffs. The jury found that Google had not acted with malice, meaning it was not entitled to any punitive damages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Google plans to appeal, Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis decision misunderstands how our products work,\u201d Castaneda said. \u201cOur privacy tools give people control over their data, and when they turn off personalisation, we honor that choice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
David Boies, a lawyer for the users, said in a statement they were \u201cobviously very pleased with the verdict the jury returned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The class action lawsuit, filed in July 2020, claimed Google continued to collect users\u2019 data even with the setting turned off through its relationship with apps such as Uber, Venmo and Meta\u2019s Instagram that use certain Google analytics services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At trial, Google said the collected data was \u201cnonpersonal, pseudonymous, and stored in segregated, secured, and encrypted locations.\u201d Google said the data was not associated with users\u2019 Google accounts or any individual user\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US District Judge Richard Seeborg certified the case as a class action covering about 98m Google users and 174m devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Google has faced other privacy lawsuits<\/a>, including one earlier this year where it paid nearly $1.4bn in a settlement with Texas over allegations the company violated the state\u2019s privacy laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n