Google Lawsuit: Google collected user data despite tracking being turned off, fined Rs 37,540 crore..

During the trial in the federal court of San Francisco, it was alleged that Google collected data from the mobile devices of millions of users for eight years. This data was collected even when the users had turned off the Web and Activity settings of their account. This led to allegations of Google breaking privacy promises.

Users had demanded more than $31 billion in damages in this class action lawsuit. However, the jury ordered Google to pay only $425 million (about Rs 37,540 crore).

The company was found guilty on two charges.
The jury found Google guilty on two out of three charges of privacy violation. However, it was also believed that Google did not act with malice. For this reason, punitive damages were not imposed on the company. Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said that the company would appeal against this decision. He said, "This decision misunderstands the way our products work. Our privacy tools give people control over their data, and when they turn off personalization, we respect that choice." Users' lawyer David Boyce welcomed the verdict and said that he was extremely satisfied with the jury's decision.

How did the data collection happen?

This class action lawsuit, filed in 2020, claimed that Google also collected users' data through different apps like Uber, Venmo, and Meta's Instagram. All these apps use Google's Analytics services.

Google's clarification

During the trial, Google argued that the data collected was not personal but pseudonymous (kept confidential). Also, it was stored securely, encrypted, and in a separate location. According to Google, this data was not directly related to any user's identity or Google account.

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