Written By Lexx Thornton
A federal jury in California has found Google liable for privacy violations and ordered the company to pay $425 million in damages. The lawsuit accused Google of continuing to collect data from millions of users even after they had explicitly turned off the “Web & App Activity” tracking setting in their Google accounts. The plaintiffs successfully argued that Google’s tracking software, often embedded in other apps and websites, made it nearly impossible for users to opt out of data collection.
Google denies all allegations and plans to appeal the verdict. This means there is currently no set date for a payout, and the final amount awarded to class members—estimated to be around 98 million people—could change, or the verdict could be overturned entirely.
Payout eligibility generally applies to non-enterprise Google account holders who had the “Web & App Activity” setting turned off between July 2016 and September 2024, but were still tracked through non-Google apps.
If you believe you are eligible to be part of this class action lawsuit, it is important to understand the process:
- Eligibility: Generally, you must have had a non-enterprise Google account and had the “Web & App Activity” setting turned off or paused at some point between July 1, 2016, and September 23, 2024, while your data was still transmitted to Google from a non-Google app.
- Filing a Claim: You do not need to proactively file a claim at this stage. Since this is a nationwide class action lawsuit, once all appeals are exhausted and the settlement is finalized (if it is upheld), a claims administrator will be appointed.
- Automatic Notification: If a settlement is approved, the claims administrator will typically notify potential class members directly via email or physical mail based on Google’s records. This notice will include the official claim form and the final deadline to submit.
- Actionable Advice: The best step for now is to monitor the official class action lawsuit website for Rodriguez v. Google LLC for formal updates. You will be alerted when the appeals process is complete and if an official claims process begins.
