A jury is ordering Google to pay $314.6 million in damages for acquiring and misusing data from Android users in California without their permission.
A California class action lawsuit that has been ongoing since 2019 has been decided by a jury, according to a report by Reuters. The result is a fee of $314.6 million that Google must pay to Android users in California. According to the lawsuit, Google obtained data from Android devices while they were not in use.
The lawsuit claims that data was taken from users with no real way to opt out. The data acquisition was “unavoidable” on the user’s part, and the plaintiff noted that this transfer was a mandatory process when it shouldn’t be.
The action on Google’s part was also argued to take up cellular data without the consent of the users while gathering data for targeted advertising.
According to Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda, the decision “misunderstands services that are critical to the security, performance, and reliability of Android devices.” Google is arguing that the data acquired from devices while they’re idle is necessary to continue to make improvements on device security and performance, whether that’s for current devices or upcoming releases.
Google also noted that Android users were not harmed by the data acquisition, and these terms were agreed to in the accepted conditions by each user.
The company has been the target of several lawsuits over the last few years, with the most recent decision ruling that Google is a monopoly in the search business.
Google is expected to appeal this decision.
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