Google to Pay $5 Bln in Consumer Privacy Case Settlement

Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, has agreed to settle a lawsuit accusing the company of secretly tracking the internet usage of millions of individuals who believed they were browsing privately.

Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers of a California federal court postponed a scheduled February 5, 2024, class-action hearing after lawyers for Google and the consumers disclosed that they had reached an initial settlement.

The lawsuit sought at least $5 billion in damages. The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed, but attorneys have stated that they have reached a binding term sheet through mediation and expect to present an official settlement for court approval by February 24, 2024.

Google and the consumers' lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Plaintiffs argued that Google's analytics, cookies, and Google Chrome's "Incognito" mode or the "private" browsing mode in other browsers allowed the company to track their activity even when they activated these privacy features.

They contended that this allowed Google to access a wealth of their private information, including their friends, hobbies, favorite foods, and online shopping habits.