Google to pay $425 million after years of improper spying on smartphone activity

Fox Business ^ | 9/05/25 | Landon Mion

[Libloather]

A federal jury ordered Google to pay $425.7 million for invading users' privacy by collecting data over an eight-year period on millions of people who had turned off a tracking feature in their Google account.

The verdict on Wednesday in San Francisco comes after a trial in a class-action case applying to roughly 98 million users in the U.S. between July 1, 2016, and Sept. 23, 2024. The jury found that the company had been spying on users in violation of California privacy laws.

Google denied that it was improperly accessing devices to collect, save, and use data of people who believed they had protected their online activity with privacy controls.

"This decision misunderstands how our products work," Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said in a statement to Reuters. "Our privacy tools give people control over their data, and when they turn off personalization, we honor that choice."

Castaneda said the company plans to appeal the verdict.

The class action lawsuit was filed in July 2020, accusing Google of continuing to collect data on users who had turned on privacy controls.

During the trial, Google said the data collected was "nonpersonal, pseudonymous, and stored in segregated, secured, and encrypted locations."

The company claimed the data was not associated with users' Google accounts or any user’s identity.

[Chickensoup]

I think they make that in one minute.

[Chickensoup]

I think they make that in one minute.

[Bob434]

Lol, yup