Google settles $5 billion privacy lawsuit over tracking users in “incognito mode”

ReportJanuary 2, 2024Editorial DepartmentData Privacy/Online Tracking

Google has agreed to settle a lawsuit filed in June 2020 that accused the company of misleading users by tracking their surfing activities when they thought they were using “incognito” or “private” modes on their web browsers. Internet use remains private.

The class-action lawsuit seeks at least $5 billion in damages. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

The plaintiffs allege that Google violated federal wiretapping laws and used Google Analytics in private mode to collect information to track users’ activities.

They said this allowed the company to collect “large amounts of irresponsible information” about users who believed they had taken appropriate steps to protect their privacy online.

Google later tried to dismiss the lawsuit, pointing to a message that appears when users turn on Chrome’s incognito mode, which notifies users that their activity may still be visible to websites you visit, your employer or school, or their Internet service providers.

It’s worth noting at this point that enabling incognito or private mode in a web browser only gives users the option to search the internet without having their activity stored locally in the browser.

This means that sites using ad tech and analytics APIs can still continue to track users in that incognito session and can further correlate that activity by, for example, matching the user’s IP address.

“Google’s motion hinges on the plaintiffs’ consent to Google collecting their data while they browse in private mode,” U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled.

“Because Google never explicitly told users that it did so, courts cannot legally find that users explicitly consented to the data collection at issue.”