Google Agrees To Settle Privacy Lawsuit For $68M Over Claims That Its Virtual Assistant Illegally Recorded Conversations – AfroTech
Google has agreed to settle a multi-million-dollar privacy lawsuit.
Details On Google Assistant
Google Assistant was launched in 2016 by Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, as a virtual assistant designed to answer user questions, TechCrunch reported. It was integrated into chatbot Allo and Google Home, and was intended to rival Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri.
“Think of the assistant, we think of it as a conversational assistant, we want users to have an ongoing two-way dialog,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said, according to the outlet.
Lawsuit Explained
A preliminary class-action settlement was filed in a federal court in San Jose, CA, on Jan. 23, in response to concerns about the technology, according to Reuters. Though Google Assistant is trained to respond to “Hey Google” or “OK Google,” as “hot words” to trigger conversation and targeted advertisements, smartphone users alleged Google illegally recorded and shared private conversations after Google Assistant misperceived “hot words,” known as “false accepts,” The Guardian reported.
As a result, plaintiffs said they began receiving targeted advertisements, which they claim violated their privacy, per Reuters.
Google Settles For $68M
Google did not admit wrongdoing but agreed to pay $68 million to settle the lawsuit, according to Reuters. Of that total, $22.7 million is designated for attorneys’ fees. Reuters reported Google agreed to settle due to the risk, cost, and unpredictability of continued litigation.
Who Qualifies
Users who purchased Google devices or experienced “false accepts” since May 18, 2016, may be eligible for compensation, per the outlet. The settlement is awaiting approval from U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman.
Apple faced a similar lawsuit over its virtual assistant Siri in December 2024, according to The Guardian.
There were concerns among iPhone and Apple Watch users that Siri listened to their conversations without their consent after unintentional activation and shared the information with advertisers, per the outlet. As a result, the big tech company agreed to pay $95 million in cash in a proposed class-action lawsuit, The Guardian reported. Class members in this lawsuit were eligible to receive up to $20 per Siri-enabled device.
Apple also denied wrongdoing, according to the outlet.
