Additional Coverage:
- Google settles lawsuit for $68 million following allegations of secretly recording smart device users (foxbusiness.com)
Google Agrees to $68 Million Settlement in “Secret Recording” Lawsuit
SAN JOSE, CA – Google has reached a preliminary settlement of $68 million in a class action lawsuit alleging its voice-activated Google Assistant secretly recorded smart device users. The agreement, filed Friday in San Jose federal court, still requires approval from U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman.
The lawsuit accused the tech giant of illegally recording and distributing private conversations, then using the data to serve targeted advertising to users. Plaintiffs claimed that Google Assistant, designed to activate only upon specific “hot words” like “Hey Google” or manual button presses, inappropriately captured personal discussions without user knowledge. This alleged unauthorized recording impacted users of Google smartphones, home speakers, laptops, tablets, Chromecast media players, and even wireless earphones.
Users reported receiving advertisements based on conversations they had when they had not intentionally triggered their smart devices.
While Google has not admitted fault, the company stated in court documents that it opted to settle to avoid the “uncertainty, risk, expense, inconvenience and distraction” of prolonged litigation. Lawyers representing the plaintiffs may seek up to one-third of the settlement fund, approximately $22.7 million, for legal fees.
This settlement follows a similar agreement reached by Apple in December 2024, where it paid $95 million to smartphone users over privacy concerns related to its virtual assistant, Siri.
Google has faced other privacy-related legal challenges recently. Last spring, the company agreed to pay $1.4 billion to Texas to settle a lawsuit concerning the unauthorized collection of user data.
Additionally, in September, it was ordered to pay $425.7 million for invading user privacy by collecting data from millions who had disabled a tracking feature in their Google accounts. In 2024, Google also agreed to destroy billions of data records to settle a lawsuit alleging it tracked users’ private browsing activities, even when using “Incognito” mode.