Google has agreed to settle a consumer privacy lawsuit seeking at least $5 billion in damages over allegations it tracked users’ data who thought they were browsing the internet privately.
The lawsuit focused on Google’s “incognito” mode on the Chrome browser, which, according to plaintiffs, misled users into thinking their online activities were not being monitored by the tech giant. Internal Google emails, revealed during the lawsuit, showed that Google was tracking users in incognito mode for web traffic measurement and ad sales purposes.
U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, confirmed in a court filing that Google’s lawyers had reached a preliminary agreement to settle the proposed class action lawsuit, originally filed in 2020. The lawsuit alleged that “millions of individuals” were likely affected by Google’s actions, considering the company’s vast user base of over 4.3 billion worldwide.
Plaintiffs sought a minimum of $5,000 for each user allegedly tracked by Google’s services, such as Google Analytics or Ad Manager, even when in private browsing mode and not logged into their Google accounts. While the settlement amount is expected to fall short of the $5 billion figure, no specific amount has been disclosed for the preliminary settlement.
The settlement comes shortly after Google’s request for the case to be decided by a judge was denied. A jury trial was scheduled to commence next year. The lawsuit accused Google of intentionally deceiving users with the incognito option, claiming that the company’s practices infringed on users’ privacy by gathering intimate details about their lives and internet usage.
A formal settlement is anticipated for court approval by February 24, 2024. Class action lawsuits, such as this, have become a primary means of addressing data privacy concerns with major tech companies in the United States, which currently lacks comprehensive legislation on personal data handling. In recent history, both Google and Meta (Facebook’s parent company) have settled significant cases related to user data and privacy concerns.
