Google plans to delete billions of browsing data to resolve a consumer privacy lawsuit. The lawsuit alleged that Google was secretly tracking internet activities of users who believed they were browsing privately.
The lawsuit began in 2020, representing millions of Google users who had been using private browsing since June 1, 2016. The plaintiffs alleged that Google’s analytics, cookies, and apps allowed the company to improperly track those who set Google’s Chrome browser to “Incognito” mode and other browsers to “private” browsing mode.
According to users, this tracking turned Google into an “unaccountable information repository,” allowing it to gather data on their friends, favorite foods, hobbies, shopping habits, and even the “most intimate and potentially embarrassing things” they searched for online.
“The result is that Google will collect less data from users’ private browsing sessions, and that Google will make less money from the data,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers wrote.
The settlement terms, filed in the Oakland, California federal court, need approval from U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. Under the settlement, Google will update disclosures about what it collects in “private” browsing, a process it has already begun. It will also allow Incognito users to block third-party cookies for five years.
Google is not paying any damages as part of the settlement, but users may individually sue the company for damages. Lawyers for the plaintiffs valued the agreement at more than $5 billion, and as high as $7.8 billion.
Google spokesman Jose Castaneda expressed the company’s satisfaction with settling the lawsuit, which it always considered baseless.
“We never associate data with users when they use Incognito mode,” Castaneda said. “We are happy to delete old technical data that was never associated with an individual and was never used for any form of personalization.“
David Boies, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, referred to the settlement as “a historic step in requiring honesty and accountability from dominant technology companies.” A preliminary settlement had already been reached in December, averting a scheduled Feb. 5, 2024 trial.
