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Google ordered to pay $315 mn penalty for unauthorised Android data collection
A Google logo is seen at a company research facility in Mountain View, California, U.S. Reuters
Google has been accused of stealing data from Android phone users in the US, leading to a court ordering the tech giant to pay over $314.6 million for unauthorised data collection.
A jury in California's San Jose has contended with the plaintiffs that Alphabet's Google has been sending and receiving information from the cell phones of Android users without their permission while they were idle, causing 'mandatory and unavoidable burdens shouldered by Android device users for Google's benefit.'
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Google, however, has sought an appeal as its spokesperson, Jose Castaneda, said that the jury's verdict 'misunderstands services that are critical to the security, performance, and reliability of Android devices.'
Meanwhile, the plaintiffs' lawyer Glen Summers said the verdict 'forcefully vindicates the merits of this case and reflects the seriousness of Google's misconduct.'
What does the plaintiffs' plea say?
The plaintiffs filed the class action lawsuit against Google in state court in 2019 on behalf of at least 14 million residents of California.
They claimed that Google gathered data from idle phones running its Android operating system for purposes such as targeted advertising, using Android users' cellular data without their knowledge or benefit.
Another group filed a separate lawsuit in federal court in San Jose, bringing the same claims against Google on behalf of Android users in the other 49 states. That case is scheduled for trial in April 2026.
On the other hand, Google told the court that no Android users were harmed by the data transfers and that users consented to them in the company's terms of service and privacy policies.
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