Google has not succeeded in convincing a federal judge to dismiss a class action lawsuit alleging that the tech giant collected personal data from users’ mobile devices, despite users having disabled tracking features. This decision sets the stage for a possible trial in August.
Chief Judge Richard Seeborg, presiding over the case in San Francisco, dismissed Google’s claims that it provided sufficient disclosure about its Web and App Activity settings and that users had consented to the data collection.
The company’s defense included the assertion that its practices of basic record-keeping do not inflict harm on users.
Individuals using both Android and non-Android devices accused Google of breaching privacy laws and infringing upon a California statute that prohibits unauthorized access to computer systems. They allege that Google intercepted and retained their personal browsing histories without consent.
In a ruling released on Tuesday, Judge Seeborg noted that a reasonable user might consider Google’s actions “highly offensive,” observing that the company collected data even after receiving complaints from staff about its practices and recognizing that its disclosures were unclear.
Internal communications pointed to Google’s intention to be vague regarding the differentiation between data collected within Google accounts versus data collected externally, as employees feared users might find the reality “alarming.”
However, Judge Seeborg remarked that the Google employees might have merely been suggesting enhancements to the company’s products and services.
The determination of whether Google’s interpretation or that of the plaintiffs is correct remains a factual issue to be resolved in court, he concluded.
In a statement released Wednesday, Google rebutted the accusations, claiming: “Privacy controls have long been built into our service and the allegations here are a deliberate attempt to mischaracterise the way our products work. We will continue to make our case in court against these patently false claims.”
Lawyers representing the plaintiffs did not provide immediate comments on the ruling. A jury trial is currently scheduled to begin on August 18, with the lawsuit originally filed in July 2020.
Last August, the federal appeals court in San Francisco reinstated a lawsuit alleging that Google tracked users of its Chrome browser even after users opted out of syncing their browsers with Google accounts.
Additionally, four months prior, Google reached a settlement to destroy billions of data records in response to claims that it had monitored users who believed they were browsing privately in Chrome’s “Incognito” mode. That settlement was valued at over $5 billion by the law firms that also represent the plaintiffs in the current case.
The ongoing case is titled Rodriguez et al v Google LLC, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, under case number 20-04688.
© Thomson Reuters 2025
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
