A federal jury in the United States has ordered Google to pay nearly $425 million in damages to about 100 million users, ruling that the company unlawfully collected data from smartphone applications without their consent.
The verdict, delivered on Wednesday in San Francisco after a trial that began in mid-August, found that Google violated the privacy of users who had specifically disabled tracking in their app settings. Despite these preferences, the tech giant continued recording their data.
The case stems from a class-action lawsuit filed in July 2020. The court recognized about 98 million claimants who had switched off the “Web and App Activity” setting and an additional sub-setting meant to stop Google from tracking activity across its services, including Chrome, Google Maps, and Google News.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued during the trial that Google’s privacy promises amounted to “blatant lies.”
In response, Google announced it would appeal the ruling. Company spokesperson José Castañeda told AFP that the verdict “misunderstands how our products work” and insisted that Google’s privacy tools allow users full control over their data. He added that when personalization is disabled, Google respects that choice.
The company further claimed that any data collected after users disabled tracking settings could not be used to personally identify individuals.
If upheld, the decision represents one of the largest penalties levied against Google in relation to privacy practices, underscoring growing scrutiny over how Big Tech companies manage personal data.
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