This month was huge for Google as it launched its Pixel 9 lineup at the Made by Google event 2024, which has been making the rounds for the upgraded features and advanced capabilities incorporated in the lineup. While the company is being praised for its ongoing initiatives and product improvement, it has found itself under hot waters and is dealing with a class action lawsuit over Chrome’s data collection involving accessing user information without consent. Although the case was dismissed earlier, the court has now reversed it, leaving the tech giant in a tough position.
Google is under hot waters and facing a class action for intentionally and unlawfully accessing user information without consent
The class action lawsuit is not recent and has been ongoing since 2020. The plaintiffs claimed that Google used Chrome users’ data without permission, whether or not they enabled Chrome sync. The feature allows users to save bookmarks, passwords, and data to their Google account so that accessing information becomes seamless when they sign into Chrome.
Although the case was dismissed against Google in December 2022, the federal appeals court overturned the previous ruling, and the class action was pursued against the company again (via Verge). The appeal court stated the case should have been reviewed with more diligence and taken the user perspective into consideration.
Google defended itself earlier by stating that users consented to the access of information by accepting the company’s privacy policy. The court dismissed the case by suggesting that Google did, in fact, obtain consent. The users agreed to the data collection by agreeing to the terms of service, and hence, the case was not considered strong enough to be pursued.
However, on Tuesday, Judge Milan D. Smith Jr. reversed the ruling, writing that whether or not the user understood their consent was being taken should have been considered when making the decision and ordered the case to be taken to the lower court for reconsideration. Smith wrote:
A reasonable user would not necessarily understand that they were consenting to the data collection at issue.
The lawsuit that has been revived now covers Chrome users who did not choose to sync their browsers with Google accounts and have been using the browser since 2016. The plaintiffs maintain their stance that Google did not adhere to its privacy notice for Chrome that assures users that their personal data would not be accessed unless the sync feature is enabled. Google has not yet given any statement on the ongoing issue, but such a lawsuit makes tech companies handle user consent and data collection more carefully.