Google to pay more than 60 billion yen in damages for violating smartphone users' privacy

The San Francisco District Court has ordered Google to pay $425.7 billion in damages in a class action lawsuit alleging that the company improperly tracked and collected smartphone user information for advertising sales over a period of nearly a decade.

Google faces in millions of damages for tracking people's online activity | AP News

Google Hit With $425 Million Jury Verdict in Privacy Trial (5)
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/google-violated-privacy-of-nearly-100-million-users-jury-finds

The class action lawsuit alleges that Google violated user privacy and targeted approximately 98 million devices operating in the United States between July 1, 2016 and September 23, 2024.

An eight-judge jury in the San Francisco Federal District Court found that Google misled users by continuing to store and replicate their data even after they toggled an option in their account settings to opt out of data collection by third-party apps. The court ruled that Google was not liable under California's Computer Data Access Fraud Act, but was liable for privacy violations.

While the damages awarded are significantly less than the $31 billion the plaintiffs had originally sought, plaintiffs' attorney David Boies said he was pleased with the award, which amounts to just over $4 per vehicle.

Google spokesman Jose Castaneda said the ruling 'misinterprets how our product works' and indicated the company intends to appeal.