Google logo image.

Google lost a class-action lawsuit in the United States that was filed on the grounds of illegally collecting information from users of Android-based smartphones.

On the 1st (local time), according to Reuters, a jury in a San Jose, California, court found Google liable for illegally transmitting and receiving information from Android-based smartphones and ordered it to pay $314 million (about 430 billion won) in damages.

The plaintiffs in this lawsuit filed a class action against Google in 2019 on behalf of about 14 million California residents. They claimed that Google illegally collected user information from smartphones running the Android operating system for the purpose of targeted advertisements aimed at specific consumer groups, and that the process of transmitting and receiving that data incurred users' expenses of cellular data.

Google contended that there were no Android device users who suffered damage from the data transmission, and since users had agreed to the company's terms of service and privacy policy, it bore no liability; however, it ultimately failed to persuade the jury.

A Google representative stated in a statement that they would appeal, asserting that the ruling misunderstood the significant services related to the security, performance, and reliability of Android devices.

※ This article has been translated by AI. Share your feedback here.