Google has agreed to resolve a consumer privacy lawsuit, aiming for a settlement of at least $5 billion (approximately Sh. 785 billion).
The lawsuit alleged that Google, through its Chrome browser’s “incognito” mode, improperly tracked user data, contradicting the mode’s claim to offer private browsing.
The lawsuit, initially filed in 2020, targeted Google’s Chrome browser and argued that the “incognito” mode misled users into thinking their online activities were not being monitored by the tech giant.
Internal Google emails revealed in court demonstrated that user activity in incognito mode was being tracked for purposes such as measuring web traffic and selling advertisements.
A judge confirmed that Google’s legal representatives reached a preliminary agreement to settle the class action lawsuit, claiming that potentially “millions of individuals” had been affected.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers sought a minimum of $5,000 for each user allegedly tracked by Google Analytics or Ad Manager services, even while in private browsing mode and not logged into a Google account.
While the settlement amount is undisclosed, it is unlikely to reach the initially claimed $5 billion. Google and the consumers’ lawyers did not provide comments in response to an AFP request.
The settlement comes shortly after Google’s request for the case to be decided by a judge was denied. A jury trial was scheduled for the coming year.
The lawsuit, filed in a California court, asserted that Google’s practices intentionally infringed on users’ privacy by misleading them with the incognito option.
The original complaint argued that Google, along with its employees, possessed the capability to acquire intimate details about individuals’ lives, interests, and internet usage.
It stated, “Google has made itself an unaccountable trove of information so detailed and expansive that George Orwell could never have dreamed it.”
A formal settlement is anticipated for court approval by February 24, 2024. In the absence of comprehensive laws on personal data handling, class action lawsuits have become a primary means to address data privacy concerns involving major tech companies in the United States.
Notably, Google previously paid $23 million in August to settle a case related to third-party access to user search data, and in 2022, Meta, Facebook’s parent company, settled a similar case by agreeing to pay $725 million over user data handling.
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