- A US federal court has ordered Google to pay $425 million in damages for breaching user privacy.
- The case involved nearly 100 million users who claimed the company continued collecting data even after they disabled tracking features.
- The jury found Google liable on two counts but stopped short of awarding punitive damages.
- The verdict comes amid broader antitrust scrutiny, with Google now required to share search data with competitors while retaining ownership of its Chrome browser.
Google has been ordered to pay $425 million in damages after a federal jury found the company violated the privacy of millions of users by continuing to collect data even when tracking settings were turned off. The case, filed as a class action in 2020, covered roughly 98 million users and 174 million devices.
The lawsuit centered on Google’s Web & App Activity setting, which users believed would stop the company from gathering personal data once disabled. Despite this, the tech giant allegedly continued to access and store information from mobile devices and third-party apps, including platforms like Uber, Amazon, Instagram, and Facebook.
Jurors found Google liable on two of three privacy-related claims but concluded the company had not acted with malice, ruling out punitive damages. Plaintiffs had originally sought over $31 billion in compensation.
The decision adds to mounting legal pressure on Google, which is also facing antitrust scrutiny. In a separate ruling this week, a federal judge declined to force the company to sell its Chrome browser but imposed restrictions on exclusive contracts and ordered Google to share search data with competitors.
Another trial, focused on Google’s dominance in advertising technology, is set to begin later this month. The company has been accused of maintaining a monopoly in digital ad services and could face further regulatory penalties.
As legal battles intensify, Google’s business practices and data policies remain under the microscope, with implications for how tech giants handle user privacy and market competition moving forward.
