Google has agreed to pay $68 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of secretly listening to users’ private conversations through their phones.
Users have accused Google Assistant – the virtual assistant present on many Android devices – of recording private conversations after it was accidentally activated on their devices, according to the BBC.
They claimed that the recordings were later shared with advertisers to send them personalized ads. But in a document filed to settle the case, the company denied any wrongdoing and said it wanted to avoid litigation.
What is Google Assistant?
Google Assistant is designed to stay in standby mode until it hears a certain phrase – usually “Hey Google” – which activates it.
The phone then records what it hears and sends the recording to Google’s servers, where it can be analyzed.
People use the virtual assistant for various reasons, from simple questions about the weather to controlling smart devices like lights or TVs.
The company says it doesn’t send any audio anywhere while the assistant is in standby mode.
But the lawsuit alleges that Google Assistant sometimes activated by mistake — the phone misreading someone saying the activation phrase — and recorded conversations that were meant to remain private. The plaintiffs allege that these recordings were later passed on to advertisers for the purpose of creating targeted advertisements.
Collective complaint
The proposed settlement was filed Friday in federal court in California and requires the approval of U.S. District Court Judge Beth Labson Freeman.
The complaint was filed as a class action, not an individual case — meaning that if the settlement is approved, the amount will be split among multiple plaintiffs.
Those eligible for compensation must have owned Google devices since May 2016.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers, however, could seek up to a third of the settlement amount — about $22 million — in legal fees.
The case follows a similar lawsuit in January, when Apple agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that some of its devices listened to users through the Siri voice assistant without their permission.
And Apple has denied any wrongdoing, as well as the allegations “recorded, disclosed to third parties, or would not have deleted recorded conversations as a result of Siri activation” without consent.
