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Google has been fined $425 million by a U.S. federal court for collecting user data despite tracking being disabled. The class action lawsuit involved nearly 98 million users, highlighting growing regulatory pressure on tech companies to protect consumer privacy.
Google has been fined 425 million dollars by the US federal courts because the company violated the privacy of its users by gathering information of millions of users even after they had closed tracking preference in their Google accounts. In 2020, the case was initiated as a class action lawsuit and included about 98 million users and 174 million devices. It claimed that Google was still collecting, storing and computing information when the users selected the Web & App Activity option.
As it was shown in the lawsuit, Google was mining its data by collaborating with a repertoire of mainstream applications, including Uber, Lyft, Amazon, Alibaba, Instagram, and Facebook. Two of three claims that Google violated their privacy were proved by the jury and Google was found not guilty of committing acts of malice and damages were compensatory, as opposed to punishment.
Google responded by arguing that they had privacy settings, which gave the user the control over the information and that the data they received was pseudonymous and could not be linked to an individual or individuals. The company has already said that it will appeal the ruling.
This decision demonstrates the importance of putting additional pressure on technology companies regarding the issue of consumer privacy and the clarity of information gathering procedures. It represents a great step toward the legal and regulatory issues that giant tech corporations are currently grappling with in terms of user data privacy. It is not the first of several privacy cases against Google and other technology companies that have cost the company 425 million.
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