Google to shell out $350 million to settle data privacy lawsuit
Google has agreed to shell out $350 million to settle a lawsuit brought by shareholders over a security flaw at its now-defunct Google+ social media platform. A preliminary settlement was filed on Monday (Feb 5th) in San Francisco federal court after more than a year of mediation, and it now awaits the nod from US District Judge Trina Thompson.
The lawsuit
The lawsuit, as per Reuters, alleges that around March 2018, Google got wind of a software glitch which had left the personal data of Google+ users exposed. The bug it alleges had persisted for three years. However, rather than promptly addressing the issue, Google allegedly kept it under wraps for months, all the while publicly stressing its commitment to data security.
Shareholders contend that Google's reluctance to disclose the problem stemmed from fears of facing regulatory and public scrutiny akin to Facebook's post-Cambridge Analytica scandal fallout, where user data was harvested without consent for the 2016 US elections.
The complaint also underscored the fall of Alphabet's stock value, which, as per the report, wiped out billions of dollars off of its market value.
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Google maintains innocence
Despite consenting to the settlement, Google continues to deny any wrongdoing, and contends that there is no evidence of data misuse.
Jose Castaneda, a Google spokesperson, said: "We regularly identify and fix software issues, disclose information about them, and take these issues seriously. This matter concerns a product that no longer exists, and we are pleased to have it resolved."
Earlier, Google had reached a $7.5 million settlement with Google+ users in 2020 related to the same issue.
The revelation of Monday's settlement follows Google's resolution of another lawsuit alleging the covert tracking of millions of users' internet activities. The terms of that settlement have yet to be disclosed.
(With inputs from agencies)
