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A judge has reopened a class action lawsuit against Google over Chrome privacy concerns, challenging the company’s data-sharing practices.
The class action lawsuit claims that Google “intentionally and unlawfully” shared data, including information such as IP addresses and browser history, without explicit user permission.
When the lawsuit was first filed in 2020, Google argued that users had accepted the company’s privacy policy, which it claimed signaled consent for sharing their data.
Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled in Google’s favor, dismissing the case in December 2022. Today, that decision was overturned by Judge Milan D. Smith Jr., who ruled that it wasn’t clear whether users understood the agreement.
Judge D. Smith Jr. said that Google “promoted Chrome by suggesting that certain information would not be sent to Google unless a user turned on sync.”
Google Disagrees with Chrome Privacy Accusations
In a statement to the Verge, Google spokesperson José Castañeda said the company disagreed with the ruling and that Chrome sync has “clear privacy controls.”
The tech giant also addressed the fact that users will soon no longer be required to enable Chrome sync to access their saved information, saying that this is unrelated to the lawsuit.
Google is no stranger to issues surrounding privacy. In July, it revealed its controversial U-turn on plans to phase out third-party cookies in Chrome, instead introducing a new Privacy Sandbox initiative to allow users to manage their individual browsing data.
Privacy continues to be a major concern worldwide, with companies such as TikTok, OpenAI and Meta all coming under fire in recent months for alleged privacy violations.
