Google has reached an agreement to settle a $5 billion ($7.3 billion) privacy suit claiming that it tracked users who utilized”incognito,” or “incognito” mode in its Chrome browser and similarly “private” modes in other browsers — to monitor their web browsing habits.
The class-action suit filed in 2020 claimed Google had misled people into believing it couldn’t monitor their online activities when using incognito mode.
It was argued that Google’s advertisement techniques and other tools continue to record details of the users’ web visits and other activities, despite their use of private browsing.
The plaintiffs also claimed that Google’s operations produced information that was an “unaccountable trove of information” concerning users who claimed to have taken precautions to safeguard their privacy.
The settlement, agreed to Thursday, has to be accepted by the federal judge.
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed, however the lawsuit originally sought $5 billion ($7.3 billion) on behalf of the users attorneys for plaintiffs stated that they would submit to the court an agreement to settle the case by the 24th of February.
Google did not respond immediately to a request for comments regarding the settlement.
