Google Fined $425 Million for Privacy Breaches

A US federal court ruled that Google had violated the privacy of millions of users by collecting personal data over eight years. The court set the penalty of $425 million for the company.

In a class action lawsuit filed in the US District Court for Northern California, plaintiffs alleged that Google accessed users’ mobile devices to collect and save their data despite them turning off a tracking feature. The company denied any wrongdoing and said it would appeal.

Google representative Jose Castaneda noted in a statement: “This decision misunderstands how our products work. Our privacy tools give people control over their data, and when they turn off personalisation, we honour that choice.”

A jury found Google liable on two of the three privacy violation claims but determined it had not acted with malice, with no punitive damages awarded. The plaintiffs had sued for more than $31 billion in damages. During the trial, Google argued the collected data was non-personal, pseudonymous, and stored in segregated, secured, and encrypted locations.