Jury Rules Against Google in $425M Privacy Lawsuit

In July 2020, a user filed a lawsuit against Google over its App Activity Tracking feature, alleging that while Google offered an option within account settings to opt out of activity tracking, the company continued to monitor and collect data even after users had disabled the feature.

The case was ultimately granted class-action status, meaning that nearly 100 million Google users in the United States automatically became plaintiffs unless they explicitly opted out. A California jury has now ruled that Google violated privacy rights and must pay $425 million in compensatory damages.

At the heart of the lawsuit were Google account privacy settings—specifically Web & App Activity and its supplemental sub-settings. Attorneys for the plaintiffs argued that Google never obtained user consent to collect or use this data, including data from those who had opted out of tracking.

The legal team further contended that Google promoted a misleading narrative of “data control,” falsely assuring users that they could manage, review, and delete data collected from their activity. In reality, they claimed, Google continued to harvest data even when users explicitly declined consent.

Initially, plaintiffs had sought over $30 billion in damages, with calculations based on the number of affected devices, the commercial value of the collected data, and the duration of Google’s alleged misconduct.

However, the jury determined that Google’s conduct did not violate California’s Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act, awarding only compensatory damages of $425 million while rejecting additional claims for punitive compensation.

Google’s legal representatives argued that the company maintained the right to access and collect certain categories of data, emphasizing that Google had disclosed to users that some information would continue to be gathered even with Web Activity turned off. They asserted that no false statements were made in the disclosures.

In December 2024, under authorization from the U.S. Federal Court, the class-action attorneys began sending email notifications to all affected Google users. If you received an email titled “Court-Ordered Notice of Class Action” in your Gmail inbox, you are automatically included as a class member and eligible for compensation—unless you actively choose to opt out.

If you did not receive such a notification, it likely means you were not among the affected users. To qualify, you must have disabled App Activity Tracking between July 1, 2016, and September 23, 2024. If you never opted out during this period, you are not eligible to receive compensation.

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