Google has agreed to a US$68 million settlement to resolve a long-running class-action lawsuit alleging that its voice-activated assistant, Google Assistant, illegally recorded users’ private conversations without their consent and shared the data with third parties, including for targeted advertising, a practice critics described as the assistant “spying” on users. Google denied any wrongdoing as part of the deal.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in San Jose, California, claims that Google Assistant sometimes activated and recorded conversations mistakenly, known as “false accepts”, even when users did not use trigger phrases such as “Hey Google” or “Okay Google.” Plaintiffs argued that information from these unintended recordings was then disclosed to third parties for purposes including ad targeting.
Under the proposed settlement, which still requires approval by a U.S. District Judge, eligible users who owned Google devices or experienced false activations dating back to May 18, 2016 may be able to submit claims for compensation once the deal receives court approval. Plaintiffs’ attorneys may seek about one-third, roughly US$22.7 million, of the settlement as legal fees, a common arrangement in class-action settlements.
The agreement follows similar legal pressure on tech giants over voice assistant privacy. In a related case, Apple agreed in December 2024 to pay $95 million to settle claims that its Siri assistant recorded users without prompt, highlighting growing legal scrutiny over how smart voice technologies handle sensitive personal data.
