Google Agrees to Destroy Billions of Data to Settle Internet Tracking Lawsuit

JAKARTA - Google has agreed to destroy billions of data records to settle a lawsuit alleging that the company secretly tracked internet users who thought they were browsing privately.

Terms of the settlement were filed on  Monday, April 1, in federal court in Oakland, California, and require approval from U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers.

The plaintiffs' lawyers assess the deal to be worth more than USD 5 billion (IDR 79.7 trillion), even reaching USD 7.8 billion (IDR 124.4 trillion). Although users will not receive compensation, they can still file a lawsuit individually to obtain compensation.

This class action lawsuit began in 2020, covering millions of Google users who used private browsing mode since June 1, 2016.

Users claim that Google analytics, cookies, and apps allow the Alphabet unit to track people who set Google's Chrome browser to "Incognito" mode and other browsers to "private" browsing mode.

They say this makes Google an "unaccountable repository of information" by allowing it to know about their friends, favorite foods, hobbies, shopping habits, and the "most intimate and potentially embarrassing" things they search for online.

In the settlement, Google will update descriptions of what it collects in "private" browsing, a process it has already begun. Google will also let Incognito users block third-party cookies for five years.

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

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to court documents, Google supports final approval of the settlement but disagrees with the plaintiffs' "assessment of the law and facts."

David Boies, an attorney for the plaintiffs, in a statement called the settlement "a historic step in demanding honesty and accountability from dominant technology companies."

A preliminary settlement was reached in  December, announcing a trial scheduled for February 5, 2024. Terms were not disclosed at that time. The plaintiffs' lawyers plan to later seek unspecified legal fees to be paid by Google.