A recent ruling by a US federal jury has instructed Google to pay approximately $425 million for allegedly accessing data from smartphone apps even when users had chosen privacy settings. The decision stemmed from a class action lawsuit filed in July 2020, accusing Google of unlawfully intercepting private consumer activity through mobile apps.
Following a trial in San Francisco, the jury’s verdict arrived one day after a federal judge in Washington, DC, ruled against the government’s request for Google to divest its Chrome web browser in a significant antitrust case. Google’s spokesperson, Jose Castaneda, expressed disagreement with the verdict, stating that the company’s privacy tools empower users to manage their data and respect their choices when disabling personalization features.
In the lawsuit concerning smartphone app privacy, the plaintiffs contended that Google had been intercepting, tracking, and monetizing users’ app activity data regardless of their selected privacy preferences. The plaintiffs’ legal team criticized Google’s privacy assurances as misleading and deceptive.
Google has faced ongoing scrutiny over balancing its advertising revenue strategies with user privacy concerns. The tech giant has been exploring alternatives to traditional online tracking methods like cookies, aiming to develop less intrusive yet effective mechanisms. Cookies, which store data about users’ online behavior, play a crucial role in online advertising and the operational models of major platforms.
In a separate development, France’s data protection authority recently imposed substantial fines on both Google and fashion retailer Shein for non-compliance with cookie regulations. The penalties, among the highest ever imposed by the CNIL watchdog, amounted to 150 million euros for Shein and 325 million euros for Google. The CNIL found that both companies failed to obtain users’ explicit consent before deploying advertising cookies on their browsers, a decision subject to potential appeals.
Google indicated its intent to review the CNIL’s ruling and affirmed its commitment to meeting the watchdog’s previous directives. This latest fine against Google marks the third penalty issued by the CNIL related to the company’s cookie practices, following fines of 100 million euros in 2020 and 150 million euros in 2021.