https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/google-hit-with-314-million-us-verdict-cellular-data-class-action-2025-07-01/

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Google hit with $314 million US verdict in cellular data class action

By Blake Brittain
July 1, 20259:33 PM UTCUpdated July 1, 2025

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A Google logo is seen at a company research facility in Mountain
View, California
A Google logo is seen at a company research facility in Mountain
View, California, U.S., May 13, 2025. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File
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July 1 (Reuters) - A jury in San Jose, California, said on Tuesday
that Google misused customers' cell phone data and must pay more than
$314.6 million to Android smartphone users in the state, according to
an attorney for the plaintiffs.
The jury agreed with the plaintiffs that Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O),
opens new tab was liable for sending and receiving information from
the devices without permission while they were idle, causing what the
lawsuit had called "mandatory and unavoidable burdens shouldered by
Android device users for Google's benefit."

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Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said in a statement that the
company would appeal, and that the verdict "misunderstands services
that are critical to the security, performance, and reliability of
Android devices."
The plaintiffs' attorney Glen Summers said the verdict "forcefully
vindicates the merits of this case and reflects the seriousness of
Google's misconduct."
The plaintiffs filed the class action in state court in 2019 on
behalf of an estimated 14 million Californians. They argued that
Google collected information from idle phones running its Android
operating system for company uses like targeted advertising,
consuming Android users' cellular data at their expense.
Google told the court that no Android users were harmed by the data
transfers and that users consented to them in the company's terms of
service and privacy policies.
Another group filed a separate lawsuit in federal court in San Jose,
bringing the same claims against Google on behalf of Android users in
the other 49 states. That case is scheduled for trial in April 2026.

Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington Editing by Bill Berkrot

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[https]
Blake Brittain

Thomson Reuters

Blake Brittain reports on intellectual property law, including
patents, trademarks, copyrights and trade secrets, for Reuters Legal.
He has previously written for Bloomberg Law and Thomson Reuters
Practical Law and practiced as an attorney.

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