Google must pay $425 million in privacy lawsuit, jury says

Driving the news: The San Francisco case was brought by a group of users who alleged in a class-action lawsuit that Google "unlawfully accessed their devices and data, including app activity data on their mobile devices" in "violation" of privacy assurances under the tech giant's Web & App Activity setting.

• The users had sought $31 billion in damages in the case that was filed in July 2020 and which covered some 98 million Google users and 174 million devices.

What they're saying: "The data companies like Google collect on their users is the defining commodity of our time," said Morgan & Morgan's John Yanchunis, a co-lead attorney in the case, Thursday.

• "We're proud to have fought with our co-counsel on behalf of the plaintiffs and pleased that the jury listened to the evidence and saw how Google enriched itself by collecting information without its users' consent," added Yanchunis in the emailed statement.
• "We hope this result sends a message to the tech industry that Americans will not sit idly by as their information is collected and monetized against their will."

The other side: "This decision misunderstands how our products work," said Jose Castaneda, a Google spokesperson, in the statement.

• "Our privacy tools give people control over their data, and when they turn off personalization, we honor that choice."

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Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment from attorney John Yanchunis.