To resolve a lawsuit alleging that it surreptitiously monitored the internet activity of users who believed they were browsing in private, Google agreed to delete billions of data records. 

The settlement terms were submitted to the federal court in Oakland, California, on Monday, and U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers must approve them. 

Plaintiffs' attorneys estimated the agreement's worth at over $5 billion and as much as $7.8 billion. Users can sue Google individually for damages, but the company is not paying any. 

Millions of Google users who have utilized private browsing since June 1, 2016, are covered by the class action, which started in 2020.


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According to users, Alphabet (GOOGL.O) improperly tracks individuals who use Google's Chrome browser in "Incognito" mode and other browsers in "private" mode. Google's analytics, cookies, and apps allegedly made this tracking possible.  

They claimed that allowing Google to learn about their friends, favorite foods, pastimes, shopping habits, and the "most intimate and potentially embarrassing things" they look for online transformed Google into an "unaccountable trove of information". 

As part of the settlement, as it has already started, Google will update its disclosures regarding the data it gathers during "private" browsing. Additionally, it will grant Incognito users a five-year block on third-party cookies.

The plaintiffs' lawyers wrote, "The result is that Google will collect less data from users' private browsing sessions and that Google will make less money from the data."

According to Google spokesman Jose Castaneda, Google has always viewed the lawsuit as baseless and was happy to reach a settlement.


"We never associate data with users when they use Incognito mode," Castaneda said. "We are happy to delete old technical data that was never associated with an individual and was never used for any form of personalization."

David Boies, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in a statement that the settlement was "a historic step in requiring honesty and accountability from dominant technology companies."

In December, a preliminary settlement was reached, preventing the trial from being set for February 5, 2024. At the time, the terms weren't disclosed. Later, the plaintiffs' attorneys intend to demand undisclosed legal fees from Google. 

 Alphabet is headquartered in California's Mountain View. 

 U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, Case No. 20-03664; Brown et al. v. Google LLC et al.