Google must pay $547 million in class action lawsuit over privacy, US jury rules
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The verdict comes after a trial over allegations that Google over an eight-year period accessed users’ mobile devices to collect, save, and use their data.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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A US federal jury determined on Sept 3 that Alphabet’s Google must pay US$425 million (S$547 million) in a class action lawsuit that accused it of continuing to collect data for millions of users who had switched off a tracking feature in their Google account, a spokesperson for the plaintiffs’ lawyer said.
The verdict comes after a trial in the federal court in San Francisco, California, over allegations that Google over an eight-year period accessed users’ mobile devices to collect, save, and use their data, violating privacy representations under its Web & App Activity setting.
The consumers had been seeking more than US$31 billion in damages.
The class action, filed in July 2020, claimed that Google continued to collect users’ data even with the setting turned off through its relationship with apps such as Uber, Venmo and Meta’s Instagram that use certain Google analytics services.
A spokesperson for Google confirmed the verdict.
France hits Google with €325 million fine
In Paris, France’s data protection authority said on Sept 3 that it had fined Google €325 million (S$488 million) for improperly displaying advertisements to Gmail users and using cookies, both without Google account users’ consent.
The Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertes (CNIL) also gave Google six months to ensure ads are no longer displayed between e-mails in Gmail users’ inboxes without prior consent, and that users give valid consent to the creation of a Google account for the placement of ad trackers.
Failing that, Google and its Irish subsidiary would both have to pay a penalty of €100,000 per day of delay, CNIL said in a statement.
A Google spokesperson said the company was reviewing the decision and said that users have always been able to control the ads they see in their products.
In the past two years, Google has made updates to address the commission’s concerns, including an easy way to decline personalised ads when creating a Google account, and changes to the way ads are presented in Gmail, the spokesperson said. REUTERS
