• Google ordered to pay $425 million for privacy violations by tracking user data.
• The lawsuit covered approximately 98 million users over eight years.
• Google plans to appeal the court's decision, claiming a misunderstanding of its products.

A federal jury in San Francisco has ordered Google to pay $425 million after finding that the tech giant violated user privacy by continuing to collect data even after users had disabled a key tracking feature in their accounts. This verdict comes after a class-action lawsuit filed in July 2020, which accused Google of gathering user information while violating privacy assurances linked to its Web & App Activity settings, covering around 98 million users and 174 million devices. Plaintiffs had initially sought more than $31 billion in damages, specifically citing breaches of privacy over eight years, according to Indiatimes, BBC, and Dawn.

During the trial, the jury found Google liable on two of three claims of privacy violations but stated the company had not acted with malice, which meant no punitive damages were awarded. A representative from Google stated that they plan to appeal, arguing that “ This decision misunderstands how our products work” and emphasizing that their privacy tools are intended to give users control over their data, according to Al Jazeera, Indiatimes, and CBS News.

The lawsuit's allegations also indicated that Google improperly collected data through its relationships with apps like Uber, Venmo, and Instagram that utilize Google analytics services, despite users opting out of data collection. According to Google, the collected data was “nonpersonal” and stored in encrypted locations, with no link to individual identities. Nevertheless, the jury's decision is a significant ruling in Google's ongoing privacy challenges, including earlier settlements totaling nearly $1.4 billion with Texas over privacy law violations, referenced by Al Jazeera, Dawn, and CBS News.