Google, a company dedicated to collecting online data, based in the United States, agreed to pay more than 5 billion dollars in compensation for having kept a record of searches carried out through its “anonymous” mode.
According to documents from the Northern District Court of California, Google reached a settlement with 3 law firms representing 50 plaintiffs whose information was used without authorization, despite having used the anonymous option when browsing the internet.
Under the agreement, Google agreed to pay more than $5 billion in compensation for keeping a record of unauthorized data.
Google will also delete data about the browsing history of millions of users.
“This agreement is a historic step towards requiring mainstream technology companies to be honest in their statements to users about how they collect and use user data and how they delete and correct the data they collect.” The document states that “this agreement ensures true accountability and transparency from the world’s largest data collector and constitutes an important step towards improving and protecting our right to privacy on the Internet.”
In the legal action brought about 4 years ago, Google was accused of misleading users about the way it controls the activity of those who use the anonymous browsing option.
The US Department of Justice filed two lawsuits for violating competition rules against Google, one in 2020 and another in 2023, alleging that the company was implementing a monopoly policy.
Tags: Google pay compensation keeping data collected anonymous mode
