Court in San Francisco rules against Google, costing the tech giant $425 million in privacy lawsuit

In a landmark ruling, a federal jury in San Francisco has found Google liable for two of three claims of privacy violations in a class action lawsuit filed in 2020. The lawsuit, led by "C.H. et al," involves parents of children under 13 years who used YouTube, and was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California under case number 19-07016.

The jury did not find Google liable for any punitive damages, deciding that the company did not act with malice. However, Google has been ordered to pay $425 million for continuing to collect data from users who had switched off a tracking feature in their Google account.

The class action covers about 98 million Google users and 174 million devices. The lawsuit alleges that Google continued collecting users' data even when the setting was turned off, through connections with apps like Uber, Venmo, Meta's Instagram, and others.

Google had previously denied any wrongdoing and argued at trial that the data collected was "nonpersonal, pseudonymous, and stored in segregated, secured, and encrypted locations," not tied to users' Google accounts or any individual identity.

This ruling comes after Google agreed to destroy billions of data records of users' private browsing activities to settle another lawsuit in April 2024. The lawsuit, which alleged Google tracked people who believed they were browsing privately, including in "Incognito" mode, sought more than $31 billion in damages.

Google has faced other privacy lawsuits as well. Earlier this year, it paid nearly $1.4 billion in a settlement with Texas over claims that the company violated the state's privacy laws.

A spokesperson for Google confirmed the verdict. Google is yet to release a public statement regarding the latest ruling.

Court in San Francisco rules against Google, costing the tech giant $425 million in privacy lawsuit