Jury orders Google to pay about $425.7 million in privacy case

A federal jury in San Francisco on Wednesday ordered Alphabet's Google to pay roughly $425.7 million after concluding the company improperly collected data from millions of users who had turned off a tracking setting in their Google accounts, the verdict in the long-running class action showed. The case, tried in U.S. District Court, covered alleged data collection from July 1, 2016, through Sept. 23, 2024, and was certified to represent about 98 million users and 174 million devices.

Jurors found Google liable on two of three privacy claims brought by the plaintiffs, who had sought more than $31 billion in damages. The panel determined that Google did not act with malice, and therefore punitive damages were not warranted. The jury also concluded Google did not violate the California Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act, according to the verdict.

Plaintiffs alleged that Google continued to collect mobile app activity even when users turned off the Web and App Activity setting, through the company’s analytics connections with third-party apps such as Uber, Venmo and Instagram. Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued the data was used to tailor ads and generate additional...