Washington, DC – Google has agreed to pay $68 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing it of recording users’ private conversations without their knowledge or consent, according to documents filed Friday in a federal court in California. The case centered on Google Assistant, which is technically supposed to only begin recording when specific activation phrases are spoken or a button is manually pressed. However, the plaintiffs alleged that the system would unexpectedly begin recording even without formal activation. This affected a wide range of devices, including smartphones, smart home speakers, laptops, and tablets. It also included Chromecast devices and wireless earbuds.
“Suspicious” advertisements and a refusal to admit fault
Some users involved in the lawsuit reported seeing targeted ads based on private conversations they had in the vicinity of their devices, even though they hadn’t activated the voice assistant. Google, for its part, did not admit any wrongdoing. However, it explained that the settlement was reached to avoid legal risks and significant costs. This is because prolonging the litigation could have resulted in substantial losses.
Next steps
The preliminary settlement is currently awaiting approval from Federal Judge Beth Labson Freeman. The financial share each affected user will receive has not yet been determined, particularly after deducting legal fees and court costs. This is not the first such case in Silicon Valley; Apple faced a similar situation last year, which resulted in a $95 million settlement due to issues with its Siri voice assistant.
