SAN FRANCISCO: Google has agreed to settle a consumer privacy lawsuit seeking at least $5 billion in damages over allegations it tracked the data of users who thought they were browsing privately.
In a court filing, the judge confirmed that lawyers for Google reached a preliminary agreement to settle the class action lawsuit — originally filed in 2020 — which claimed that โmillions of individualsโ had likely been affected.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs were seeking at least $5,000 for each user it said had been tracked by the firm as they visited Google Analytics or Ad Manager in โprivate browsing modeโ while not logged into their Google account.
This would have amounted to at least $5 billion.
Google and lawyers for the consumers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The lawsuit, filed in a California court, claimed Googleโs practices had infringed on usersโ privacy by โintentionallyโ deceiving them.
The original complaint alleged that Google and its employees had been given the โpower to learn intimate details about individualsโ lives, interests, and internet usage.โ
โGoogle has made itself an unaccountable trove of information so detailed and expansive that George Orwell could never have dreamed it,โ it added.
No figure was given for the preliminary settlement between the parties.
A formal settlement is expected for court approval by February 24, 2024. –AFP
