A federal jury in San Francisco has ordered Google to pay $425.7 million after finding the company improperly tracked smartphone users’ activities over nearly a decade. The class-action case covered about 98 million smartphones in the United States from July 1, 2016, through September 23, 2024, with damages amounting to roughly $4 per device.
The lawsuit alleged that Google collected data from users without their permission and used it to sell targeted ads, generating significant revenue for the company. Plaintiffs’ attorneys argued this practice constituted illegal profiteering and sought more than $30 billion in damages.
Google denied any wrongdoing and maintained that its privacy controls function as intended. “This decision misunderstands how our products work, and we will appeal it,” said Google spokesman Jose Castaneda on Thursday. “Our privacy tools give people control over their data, and when they turn off personalization, we honor that choice.”
Despite the lower damages awarded compared to what was initially sought by plaintiffs’ lawyers, attorney John Yanchunis of Morgan & Morgan described the verdict as a win for consumer privacy. “We hope this result sends a message to the tech industry that Americans will not sit idly by as their information is collected and monetized against their will,” he said.
