Google paid 5 billion dollars for tracking in anonymous mode

Google has agreed to settle a US lawsuit alleging it violated users' privacy by tracking them even when they browsed in anonymous or private mode.

The class action demanded at least $5 billion (€4.5 billion) from the world's largest search engine and parent company Alphabet. Google, Facebook, Amazon and other technology companies have been under the scrutiny of regulatory authorities in the EU, USA and elsewhere in recent years. The punishment that befell Google is still far away it is not the only one, but it is among the largest so far.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers canceled a planned trial Thursday in California after attorneys announced they had reached a preliminary settlement.

At the beginning of the year, the judge rejected Google's request to dismiss the lawsuit, as there was no evidence that users agreed that Google could collect information about their browsing in anonymous mode. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed. However, the lawyers should submit the official settlement to the court for approval by February 2024.

A class-action lawsuit filed in 2020 by the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner alleged that Google's conduct turned users' anonymous browsing into an "irresponsible treasure trove of information" that captured user preferences as well as "potentially embarrassing stuff." ".

It added that Google cannot "continue to covertly and unauthorizedly collect data from virtually every American with a computer or phone."

Google said it notified users in advance of the data it collected in an anonymous manner. Of course, American users and their lawyers did not agree with this. Google said that collecting search history, even in private browsing mode, helps website owners "better assess the success of their content, products, marketing and more".

Google also faces other lawsuits challenging its search and digital advertising practices. Earlier this month, the tech giant announced it would pay $700 million to settle a lawsuit filed by a group of US federal states accusing Google of stifling competition in its Play Store. Store on Android devices.

This happened a few days after he lost a legal battle in a US court against Fortnite developer Epic Games, which accused the giant of abusing its dominant position.