Google faces $314M US jury verdict in cellular data lawsuit – report

On Tuesday, a jury in San Jose, California said Google misused customers’ cell phone data and must pay over $314.6M to Android smartphone users in the state, the report added, citing an attorney for the plaintiffs.

The jury agreed with the plaintiffs that the Alphabet unit (NASDAQ:GOOG) (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was liable for sending and receiving information from the devices without consent while they were idle, leading to what the lawsuit had called “mandatory and unavoidable burdens shouldered by Android device users for Google’s benefit,” the report added.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Seeking Alpha.

Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said in a statement to the news agency that the company would appeal, and that the verdict “misunderstands services that are critical to the security, performance, and reliability of Android devices.”

Glen Summers, the plaintiffs’ attorney, said the verdict “forcefully vindicates the merits of this case and reflects the seriousness of Google’s misconduct,” according to the report.

The plaintiffs had filed the class action lawsuit in state court in 2019 on behalf of an estimated 14 million Californians. They alleged that Google collected information from idle phones running its Android operating system for company use such as targeted advertising, consuming cellular data of Android users at their expense, the report added.

Google told the court that no Android users were harmed by the data transfers and that users gave their permission in the company’s terms of service and privacy policies, the report noted.

In addition, another group filed a separate lawsuit in federal court in San Jose, alleging the same claims against Google on behalf of Android users in the other 49 states. This case is slated for trial in April 2026, the report added.