Google just lost the class action suit against it in California – the suit was filed on behalf of an estimated 14 million Californians in 2019 and alleged $800 million in damages over Android phones collecting and transmitting data to Google while idle.
The jury sided with the plaintiffs and awarded them $314.6 million (that’s almost pi!). More specifically, Android phones collected data that would be used for targeted advertising and transmitted it to Google’s servers over cellular data – at the phone owner’s expense.
Google will appeal this verdict as it claims that users were not harmed by these data transfers and that users consented to this when they agreed to Google’s terms of service and privacy policies. A spokesperson for the company stated that the verdict “misunderstands services that are critical to the security, performance, and reliability of Android devices”.
Another group has filed a separate lawsuit, this time on behalf of Android users in the other 49 US states – this trial will begin in April.