WORLD – NEWS
Google has agreed to pay $23 million to users as part of a court settlement related to a lawsuit filed in 2013. The lawsuit accused Alphabet Inc, Google’s parent company, of knowingly storing and disclosing users’ confidential information. The disclosure occurred when user search queries and history were transmitted to third-party websites and companies without user consent.
The lawsuit alleged that Google searches contained personal information about users, such as names, addresses, phone numbers, credit card numbers, national insurance numbers and other sensitive information. This increased the risk of identity theft and violated Google’s promise of privacy and security of user information.
Google did not admit its guilt, but as part of the agreement, it did agree to compensate users. A special website has been set up to apply for the compensation, where users must provide their full name, address and email address by July 31 this year. The individual payout is expected to be around $7.70, although the exact amount could change depending on the number of applications submitted by users.
The timing of the payout distribution is not yet known and will depend on final court approval of the agreement, which is expected at a hearing on 12 October. In addition, appeals are possible, which could delay the process.
Such court settlements related to user data breaches are becoming increasingly common. Last year, Facebook Meta, Facebook’s parent company, also agreed to pay $725 million in a class action lawsuit related to user data breaches. This points to the need for companies to carefully safeguard the privacy and security of users’ personal information and honour the commitments they have made to them.
Source: postimees.ee
