Privacy lawsuit leads to $425M bill for Google
When people use their Google accounts, they have the option to turn off certain tracking features. Google is not supposed to collect any data from users who have done so. However, reports claim that millions of users turned off these features and then still had their data collected by Google, which is a breach of their privacy rights. Users decided to sue Google, saying that the company collected and saved this data without any regard for the actual preferences of the end user.
Recently, a federal court ruled on the case and said that Google is responsible for paying an incredible fine of $425 million. That does sound like a lot, but it may actually be a positive outcome for Google. Initially, the lawsuit had been seeking over $31 billion in damages, so the $425 million is just a fraction of that total.
Google plans to appeal
Google representatives have said that they think the court does not understand how Google products work. They claim that they have respected users’ choices to use privacy tools, saying that those users still had full control over their own data. As a result, Google is going to appeal the decision.
This case has been going on for over five years now, as it started in the summer of 2020. Reports show that 174 million devices were involved, and that around 98 million Google users may have been affected. Attorneys for the users who started the lawsuit said that they were pleased with the verdict, although it will be interesting to see how the appeal progresses.
A second ruling
Although Google may have been ordered to pay in this case, this is the second ruling that has come out for them in recent weeks. There was talk that Google may have to sell the Chrome web browser because they had too much of a monopoly, but U.S. federal judges recently ruled that they would not have to do so. Google is being allowed to keep Chrome as long as they share certain information with competitors to prevent it from being a monopoly.
The search landscape
Major lawsuits like this can have an impact on search engine optimization and web traffic. After all, Google is the main search engine used in the United States, and the Chrome browser is one of the most popular. Our team at Content Customs always keeps an eye on these developments, and that is just part of how we help you set up an optimal SEO campaign. If you would like to learn more about our services, do not hesitate to give us a call today.
