A federal jury has ordered Google to pay $425 million for illegally tracking users who had turned off data collection in their account settings. The lawsuit proved that despite Google’s promise that disabling the “Web & App Activity” setting would stop data storage, the company continued to collect user information through its partnerships with third-party apps like Uber, Venmo, and Facebook.
The jury found Google liable for privacy violations but did not find its actions malicious, denying additional punitive damages. Google plans to appeal the verdict, arguing the data collected was anonymous. This case is part of a larger pattern of legal challenges against Google concerning user privacy.