Google ordered to pay over $425 million in damages for smartphone privacy violations

Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

by GEOFF HARRIS

WASHINGTON (TNND) — Tech giant Google has been ordered to pay over $425 million for improperly snooping on the data of smartphone users and invading users’ privacy from 2016-2024.

It’s a violation of public trust,” said attorney & political analyst Madeline Summerville.

The class action lawsuit, initially filed in 2020, accused the company of collecting data from 98 million devices that had turned off a tracking feature in their Google account.

Even though I’ve shutoff all the different apparatuses that would keep Google from monitoring me, they’re still doing it because they were doing it through third party apps,” Summerville said.

The jury found Google spied on users and was in violation of California privacy laws. But Google denied it was improperly accessing devices. A Google spokesperson told Reuters, this decision misunderstands how its products work and it plans to file an appeal. “Our privacy tools give people control over their data, and when they turn off personalization, we honor that choice.”

The class action lawsuit, initially filed in 2020, accused the company of collecting data from 98 million devices that had turned off a tracking feature in their Google account. (TNND)

The ruling in this case came down shortly after a federal judge sided with Google in the DOJ’s monopoly case against the company. Google’s CEO even commented on the case while meeting with a group of the nation’s top tech leaders at the White House on Thursday.

It’s a long process. I appreciate that your administration had some constructive dialogue and we were able to get it to some sort of resolution,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said while speaking with President Donald Trump.

The lawsuit in California isn’t the first for Google. Earlier this year, the company settled with the state of Texas for nearly $1.4 billion after facing allegations of violating privacy laws.

They’re going to have to work really hard to revamp their image in order to be able to gain back all the clout in society they had before,” said Summerville.

While at the White House on Thursday, Google leaders also announced plans to invest $250 billion in the U.S. over the next two years.

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