Google has agreed to destroy billions of data to settle a lawsuit. In that lawsuit, the company was accused of secretly tracking the internet usage of people who they thought were browsing in private mode. Terms of the settlement were filed Monday in federal court in Oakland, California, pending approval by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.
According to plaintiffs' representatives, the value of the agreement may exceed $5 billion and up to $7.8 billion. Google does not pay compensation directly, but affected users may contact the company individually for compensation.
The class action lawsuit was filed in 2020 on behalf of millions of Google users who have been using private browsing since June 1, 2016. According to the participants, Alphabet used Google's analytics tools and cookies to track users who used incognito or other private browsing modes.
According to users, this allowed Google to access a huge amount of information without permission. This included knowing personal preferences and intimate details.
As part of the agreement, Google will update information about the data it collects during private browsing. It also allows incognito users to block third-party cookies for five years.
Google spokesman Jose Castañeda explained that although the company has always considered this lawsuit to be baseless, it is happy to close it. He stressed that the data was never associated with users when using incognito mode.
David Boies, the plaintiffs' lawyer, emphasized that this agreement represents a historic step and requires holding the technology giant accountable.
Source: Reuters
Cover image source: Shutterstock
