Consumers in a 12-year-long class action lawsuit against Google say that Google shared their queries with third parties without their permission.
What happened. The lawsuit alleged that Google violated both the Stored Communications Act, a federal law that governs access to records held by internet service providers, and state laws in California.
The settlement. Details of the settlement can be found here. In addition to the $23 million payout, which still needs court approval, it also requires Google to provide added disclosures to consumers about the sharing of search terms.
Dig deeper. Read the full announcement from Bloomberg.
Why we care. We’re not sure how or if this will affect advertisers in the future. But privacy issues are still a hot topic as we move into 2023.
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