A San Francisco jury found tech giant Google guilty of violating the privacy of 98 million users who had consciously chosen not to use its data-tracking features, and ordered the company to pay a whopping $425 million in damages.
Al Jazeera reports that the decision was handed down on Wednesday in response to a class-action lawsuit brought by users in 2020 who claimed that Google was still collecting data from third-party mobile apps even though it had promised on its Web & App Activity settings that users could disable this kind of monitoring.
The plaintiffs accused Google of directly violating its own privacy pledges by secretly collecting and profiting from private app activity data. 98 million users are thought to be involved in the case.
Google rejects jury’s verdict, vows to appeal
However, Google rejected the jury’s verdict, claiming that its systems honoured user preferences.
In a statement, company spokesperson Jose Castaneda stated, “Our privacy tools give people control over their data, and when they turn off personalisation, we honour that choice.” Castaneda also said the company would file an appeal.
Google insisted during trial arguments that the information gathered was “nonpersonal” and “pseudonymous,” and that it was only kept in “segregated, secured, and encrypted locations.”
Jury disregards Google’s defence
However, jurors disregarded that defence, supporting the claimants’ allegations that the business was taking advantage of users for financial gain.
The decision adds to Google’s mounting courtroom woes. In May 2025, the company consented to pay the state of Texas $1.375 billion for unlawfully collecting biometric information, such as residents’ voiceprints and facial geometry, and secretly following them around even after they turned off the feature.