Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Google has won a major legal victory, with a federal judge rejecting a bid to force the company to pay $2.36 billion in additional penalties tied to a long-running U.S. privacy class action. The consumers accused the company of collecting user data even when a key privacy setting was turned off.
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The ruling, issued by Chief U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco, is a major win for Google as it continues to face several privacy-related lawsuits.
What Was the Case About?
The class action, representing 98 million users and 174 million devices, claimed Google secretly collected app‑activity data from users who believed they had disabled tracking. The plaintiffs asked the court to permanently block certain advertising-related data practices.
In September, a jury found Google liable and awarded $425 million in damages, far below the $31 billion plaintiffs originally wanted. The same jury also said Google should not have to give up any profits.
Here’s Why the Judge Rejected the Penalty
Judge Seeborg denied the request for additional penalties for two main reasons:
- No proof of future harm: Plaintiffs failed to show “prospective, irreparable harm,” making a permanent injunction inappropriate.
- Insufficient evidence of profits: Their calculation of Google’s alleged profits was “insufficiently supported,” meaning they could not justify the $2.36 billion figure.
Google said that blocking this type of data collection would “cripple” analytics tools used by millions of app developers.
Overall, the ruling reduces Google’s financial risk in one of its most high-profile privacy cases. It also suggests that courts may require stronger evidence before allowing huge profit-recovery penalties in data‑privacy disputes.
Is GOOGL Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, GOOGL has a Strong Buy consensus rating based on 23 Buys and six Holds assigned in the last three months. At $352.46, the average Alphabet price target implies 4.28% upside potential. Shares of the company have gained 73.3% in the past six months.
