Google Settles $5bn Incognito Mode Tracking Lawsuit
Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, has consented to settle a lawsuit that accused it of covertly tracking the online activities of millions of individuals who believed they were browsing the internet privately.
The trial for the proposed class action, which was scheduled for February 5, 2024, was postponed by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California. This decision came after Google’s lawyers and the consumer’s lawyers announced that they had reached a preliminary agreement.
The lawsuit was seeking a minimum of $5 billion. While the terms of the settlement were not revealed, the lawyers stated that they had agreed upon a binding term sheet through mediation. They anticipate presenting a formal settlement for the court’s approval by February 24, 2024.
Neither Google nor the lawyers representing the consumer plaintiffs responded immediately to requests for comment.
The plaintiffs claimed that Google’s analytics, cookies, and apps allowed the Alphabet division to monitor their activities even when they used Google’s Chrome browser in “Incognito” mode or other browsers in “private” browsing mode.
They argued that this transformed Google into an “unaccountable trove of information,” enabling the company to gather data about their friends, hobbies, favorite foods, shopping habits, and even “potentially embarrassing things” they searched for online.
In August, Judge Rogers dismissed Google’s attempt to have the lawsuit thrown out. She stated that it remained unclear whether Google had legally committed to not collecting user data when they browsed in private mode. She referred to Google’s privacy policy and other company statements that implied restrictions on the data it might collect.
The lawsuit, which was filed in 2020, has involved “millions” of Google users since June 1, 2016. It sought at least $5,000 in damages per user for alleged violations of federal wire-tapping and California privacy laws.
