Google will pay $5 billion to secretly track users

As part of a lawsuit over the collection of confidential data from Google Chrome browser users, the American company Google agreed to pay at least $5 billion. This was reported by Reuters with reference to the lawyers of the plaintiffs and the defendant.

Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but lawyers said Google agreed to a mandatory list of demands. It will be submitted to the court for approval by February 24, 2024.

According to the plaintiffs' complaint, Google's apps allowed the company to track users' activities even when they were using the Google Chrome browser in incognito mode. In this way, the company could obtain information about users' friends, hobbies, favorite foods, consumption habits and "potentially embarrassing things" people search for online.

The lawsuit against Google was filed in 2020 in the US state of California. The lawsuit, which affects "millions" of users of the company's services, seeks at least $5,000 in damages for each victim for violating federal wiretapping laws and California privacy laws.

Previously, a large class action lawsuit was filed against Google regarding high commissions in the Play Market. This year, Google-owned video hosting site YouTube was accused of collecting data from children under 13 years of age.