Back in 2020, Google found itself in hot water over claims it was tracking what Chrome users were up to even if they flipped their browser into Incognito Mode. You know – that setting that’s supposed to give you more privacy. Well, after trying unsuccessfully to get the whole case thrown out, Google has decided to settle instead of fighting the $5 billion lawsuit in court.
According to reporting by Reuters and The Washington Post, neither Google nor the plaintiffs have disclosed the terms of the deal. But both sides have agreed to the settlement details, which they’ll put in front of a judge for approval next month.
When the lawsuit was first filed, the plaintiffs alleged Google relied on tools like Analytics, apps and browser add-ons to monitor peoples’ activity on the sly. They argued that by continuing to track folks who actively clicked into Incognito Mode, Google totally misled users into thinking they were in control over what information they shared. At the time, Google claimed that while Incognito didn’t save browsing history and whatnot on a user’s own device, websites could still gather some analytics data about their session.
The lawsuit also highlighted internal Google emails that allegedly showed executives discussing how they monitored Incognito browser usage in order to sell ads and analyze web traffic. Not cool. The suit accused Google of breaching federal wiretapping laws and California privacy regulations. And get this – it sought up to $5,000 in damages for each affected Incognito user since 2016. With potentially millions impacted, you can see why the initial lawsuit was seeking $5 billion. Google has likely settled for less than that, but mum’s the word so far on the actual terms being offered.
This isn’t the only time Google’s data collection practices have raised eyebrows and concerns either. Just last year you might remember a story about how it was gathering data from school Chromebooks. So you can bet people will be keeping a close watch on what Google does to protect user privacy moving forward.
