SAN FRANCISCO, United States: Google has settled a lawsuit that accused it of spying on users who thought they were browsing privately. The lawsuit claimed that Google’s Chrome browser had an “incognito” mode that misled users into thinking their online activity was not tracked. However, the lawsuit revealed that Google still collected data from users in incognito mode for web analytics and advertising purposes. Google agreed to pay at least $5 billion to end the legal dispute.
Google has reached a preliminary agreement to settle a lawsuit that accused it of spying on users who used the ‘incognito’ mode on its Chrome browser. The lawsuit, filed in 2020 in a California court, claimed that Google violated users’ privacy by tracking their data even when they were browsing privately and not logged into their Google account.
The plaintiffs sought at least $5 billion in damages, but the settlement amount was not disclosed. The settlement is subject to court approval by February 24, 2024. Google and the plaintiffs’ lawyers did not comment on the deal.
The lawsuit alleged that Google and its employees had access to intimate details about users’ lives, interests, and internet usage. It said that Google had created an “unaccountable trove of information” that was more intrusive than anything George Orwell could have imagined.
The settlement comes after Google failed to get the case dismissed by a judge. A jury trial was scheduled for next year.
Google has faced several lawsuits over its data privacy practices in the United States, where there is no comprehensive law on the issue. In August, Google paid $23 million to settle another case over sharing user search data with third parties.
In 2022, Facebook parent company Meta settled a similar case, agreeing to pay $725 million over the handling of user data.
