Google Wins Against Billions in New Penalties in US Privacy Lawsuit

• Judge Richard Seeborg denied the plaintiffs' request for $2.36 billion in disgorgement of alleged profits and rejected a permanent injunction against Google's data collection practices, citing insufficient evidence of 'prospective, irreparable harm' and inadequately supported profit estimates
• The September jury verdict awarded roughly $425 million in damages to the class action plaintiffs, representing less than 1.4% of the $31 billion they originally sought
• Google plans to appeal the September verdict while denying wrongdoing, and successfully avoided class decertification covering 98 million users and 174 million devices; plaintiffs claim Google has not changed its privacy disclosures or data collection practices despite the verdict

Google Wins Against Billions in New Penalties in US Privacy Lawsuit

A federal judge in San Francisco rejected a consumer bid for over $2 billion in penalties against Alphabet's Google on Friday, dismissing claims related to the company's data collection practices from users who had disabled privacy tracking features.

Key Details:

Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg denied the plaintiffs' request for $2.36 billion in disgorgement of alleged profits and refused to issue an injunction blocking certain ad-related data practices. This follows a September jury verdict that found Google liable for secretly collecting app activity data from millions of users who had switched off tracking features.

The September jury awarded approximately $425 million in damages to the class action plaintiffs—significantly below the $31 billion they sought—and issued an advisory verdict against disgorgement. The case involves a class of 98 million users and 174 million devices.

Court Rationale:

Judge Seeborg ruled that plaintiffs failed to demonstrate "prospective, irreparable harm" justifying a permanent injunction and that their profit estimates were "insufficiently supported." Google argued that blocking data collection would "cripple" an analytics service used by millions of app developers.

Market Implications:

Google denied wrongdoing and plans to appeal the September verdict. Despite the liability finding, the company has not modified its privacy disclosures or data collection practices. The judge rejected Google's request to decertify the class action.

The ruling represents a significant win for Google, substantially limiting financial exposure and allowing continued data collection operations critical to its advertising business model.