In a landmark settlement, Google has agreed to delete billions of internet browsing records in order to settle a lawsuit filed by millions of users who had been using the company’s anonymous browsing option. The terms of the settlement were filed Monday in federal court in Oakland, California and are awaiting approval from Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers. Prosecutors estimate the value of the settlement at five billion to 7.8 billion dollars.
The class-action lawsuit was filed against Google in 2020 on behalf of millions of users who had been using the ‘anonymous’ internet browsing option since June 1, 2016. The lawsuit claimed that Google’s parent company Alphabet has been monitoring the activity of users who chose the ‘anonymous’ browsing option using analytics, cookies, and applications.
As part of the settlement, Google has agreed to update its data collection practices during private browsing and will enable users of the ‘anonymous’ browsing option to block data collection by other companies in the next five years. The company spokesman stated that they were satisfied with the amicable settlement of the lawsuit despite believing it was unfounded from the beginning. The spokesperson also confirmed that they never associate data with users in incognito mode and will happily delete any old technical data not linked to individual users.
