Google settles voice assistant spying lawsuit for $68 million

Google has agreed to a $68 million settlement to resolve a class-action lawsuit alleging its voice assistant illegally spied on users to facilitate targeted advertising, Reuters reports.

Although Google did not admit wrongdoing, the lawsuit accused the company of “unlawful and intentional interception and recording of individuals’ confidential communications without their consent.”

Furthermore, the suit claimed that Google “wrongly transmitted” information gathered from these recordings to third parties for targeted advertising and other purposes. The settlement resolves claims that Google subsequently disclosed these unauthorized recordings to outsiders.

The controversy centers on “false accepts,” instances where Google Assistant allegedly activated and recorded user communications without the necessary wake word prompt. TechCrunch has sought a comment from the tech giants regarding this matter.

These growing legal claims reflect long-held American suspicions that their devices are inappropriately spying on them. For instance, in 2021, Apple agreed to a $95 million settlement over allegations that its voice assistant, Siri, recorded user conversations without a prompt.

Like other tech giants, Google has faced other privacy-related litigation in recent years. Last year, the company paid $1.4 billion to the state of Texas to settle two lawsuits asserting it had violated the state’s data privacy laws.