Google has agreed to pay $68 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging that its voice-activated assistant improperly spied on smartphone users, violating their privacy. The preliminary settlement, filed late on Friday in the federal court in San Jose, California, still requires approval from US District Judge Beth Labson Freeman.
The lawsuit accused Google, a subsidiary of Alphabet, of illegally recording and disseminating private conversations after its Google Assistant was triggered, with the purpose of sending targeted advertisements to users. The technology is designed to activate on “hot words” such as “Hey Google” or “OK Google”, similar to Apple’s Siri, but plaintiffs argued that “false accepts” – when the system misperceived ordinary speech as a hot word – led to unsolicited ads.
Google denied any wrongdoing but chose to settle to avoid the risk, cost and uncertainty of litigation, according to court documents. The company, headquartered in Mountain View, California, declined to comment on Monday. The settlement covers individuals who purchased Google devices or experienced false accepts since 18 May 2016.
Lawyers representing the plaintiffs may seek up to one-third of the settlement fund, approximately $22.7 million, to cover legal fees. The agreement follows a similar $95 million settlement reached by Apple last year with smartphone users over analogous concerns.
