Google has reached a settlement in a consumer privacy lawsuit that could have cost it at least $5 billion in the United States.
Details of the settlement have not been disclosed, but it should help the technology giant avoid a lawsuit for retaining users’ data while they believed they were browsing in private.
According to a document published online by a California court on Thursday, the judge confirmed that Google’s lawyers had reached a preliminary agreement to resolve the class-action suit.
Millions of people were potentially affected by this issue. The plaintiffs’ lawyers were seeking at least $5,000 for each user who, they claim, was tracked visiting the Google Analytics and Ad Manager platforms in “private browsing” mode, without being logged into their Google account.
If all claims were successful, Google could have had to pay out at least $5 billion. Neither Google’s lawyers nor those representing the users had responded to French news agency AFP by midday.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers argued that Google’s practices intentionally misled users, infringing on their privacy by giving Google the power to gather extensive details about their lives, interests and Internet usage.
In the process, they claim, Google accrued an uncontrolled wealth of information so detailed and expansive that “George Orwell could never have imagined it.”
No settlement amount has been made public. The agreement is set to be officially presented to the court on 24 February 2024.
