US Federal Jury Orders Google to Pay $425.7 Million for Inappropriately Spying on Customers' Smartphones
A US federal jury has ordered tech giant Google to pay $425.7 million for inappropriately spying on its customers' smartphones over a decade. The verdict, handed down on Wednesday by a federal court in San Francisco, follows a two-week trial as part of a class-action lawsuit covering nearly 98 million smartphones that operated in the US between August 1, 2016, and September 23, 2024. The total damages amount to approximately $4 per device. Google denied tracking users' online activity inappropriately, despite users believing they were protected by privacy settings. The company maintained its stance, even though the eight-person jury concluded that it had spied on its customers in violation of California's privacy laws. Google spokesperson José Castañeda stated on Thursday: "This decision does not understand how our products work, and we will appeal the verdict." He added that "our privacy tools allow users to control their data, and when they opt out, we respect that choice." The lawyers behind the lawsuit argued that Google used collected data from smartphones without authorization to sell targeted ads based on each user's interests, a strategy that generated billions of dollars in additional revenue for the company. They termed this ad sales practice as unlawful enrichment and sought damages of over $30 billion.
