A US federal court has ordered Google to pay $425 million (£316.3 million) after ruling that the company breached users’ privacy by collecting data from millions of people who had switched off tracking features in their accounts.
The case, filed in July 2020 as a class action lawsuit, involved about 98 million users and 174 million devices.
Plaintiffs claimed Google continued to access, store, and use data despite assurances that disabling the “Web & App Activity” setting would stop tracking. They argued this violated user trust and privacy commitments.
Originally, damages sought exceeded $31 billion. The jury found Google liable on two of three privacy violation claims but ruled the company had not acted with malice.
Google said it would challenge the verdict. “This decision misunderstands how our products work, and we will appeal it. Our privacy tools give people control over their data, and when they turn off personalisation, we honour that choice,” a Google spokesperson told the BBC.
The lawsuit alleged that Google’s data collection stretched beyond its own services into hundreds of thousands of third-party apps, including Uber, Lyft, Amazon, Alibaba, Instagram, and Facebook.
Google argued that when Web & App Activity is off, businesses using Google Analytics may still gather site and app usage data. The company insists this information does not personally identify individuals and respects privacy settings.
The verdict comes as Google faces wider scrutiny of its market power.
On Wednesday, Alphabet shares rose more than 9% after District Judge Amit Mehta ruled the company could keep its Chrome browser. However, Google must share search data with rivals and cannot sign exclusive contracts that reinforce its dominance.
The Justice Department had pushed for the sale of Chrome, arguing that Google’s role as the default search engine on Android, Chrome, and Apple devices cemented its market control. The court rejected that demand but imposed new restrictions.
Separately, District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled in April that Google holds a monopoly in advertising technology. She is set to oversee a trial later this month to determine possible remedies.
