Google faces class action lawsuit over Chrome data collection

Google will face a class action lawsuit accusing it of collecting user data through Chrome without their consent. In a decision released Tuesday, a federal appeals court overturned a December 2022 ruling that dismissed the case, saying a lower court should have reviewed Google’s disclosures and determined “whether a reasonable user reading them would have expected them to consent to the data collection.”

The class action lawsuit, first filed in 2020, alleged that Google collected data from Chrome users — regardless of whether they had Chrome sync turned on. The feature saves bookmarks, passwords, open tabs, and other data in your Google Account, making it easy to access when you sign in to Chrome on multiple devices.

The plaintiffs alleged that Chrome “intentionally and unlawfully” sent Google browsing history, IP addresses, persistent cookie identifiers, and unique browser identifiers without their explicit consent. At the time, Google argued that users consented to this by accepting the company’s privacy policy. Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers agreed, saying in her dismissal order that “Google adequately disclosed, and Plaintiffs consented to, the collection of the data at issue in this case.”

But Judge Milan D. Smith Jr. writes in today’s decision that Judge Gonzalez Rogers failed to consider whether users actually understood the agreement. “Google had a general privacy disclosure, but it promoted Chrome by suggesting that certain information would not be sent to Google if the user did not enable sync,” Smith writes. The case will be sent back to lower courts for further review.

“We disagree with this ruling and believe the facts of this case are on our side. Chrome Sync helps people have a seamless Chrome experience across devices and has clear privacy controls,” Google spokesman José Castañeda said in a statement to Edge. And while Google will soon no longer require users to turn on Chrome sync to access their saved information, Castañeda says, “This announcement is unrelated to the litigation.”