A federal jury in San Francisco has ordered Google to pay $425 million in damages for violating users’ privacy by continuing to collect data even after they had switched off a key tracking feature.
The verdict, delivered on Wednesday, followed a trial in which Google was accused of harvesting data through its Web & App Activity setting over an eight-year period, despite assurances to users that turning it off would stop tracking.
The lawsuit, filed in July 2020, was certified as a class action covering 98 million Google users and 174 million devices. Plaintiffs initially sought more than $31 billion in damages.
The jury found Google liable on two of three privacy claims but said the company did not act with malice, ruling out punitive damages.
Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said the company planned to appeal, insisting:
“This decision misunderstands how our products work. Our privacy tools give people control over their data, and when they turn off personalization, we honor that choice.”
Plaintiffs’ lawyer, David Boies, said they were “very pleased with the verdict.”
Google argued that the collected data was “nonpersonal, pseudonymous, and encrypted,” but the jury disagreed.
The company has faced several privacy battles recently, including a $1.4 billion settlement with Texas earlier this year and an April 2024 agreement to delete billions of records tied to private browsing activity.
