Google Faces $425 Million Penalty for Collecting Smartphone Data; France Imposes Record Cookie Fine

The class action lawsuit, filed in July 2020, accused Google of unlawfully intercepting consumers’ private activity on mobile applications. Plaintiffs argued that the company tracked, collected, and sold app usage data regardless of the privacy choices users made.

“Google’s privacy promises and assurances are blatant lies,” attorneys for the plaintiffs said in the filing.

The verdict came at the close of a trial in San Francisco, just one day after a federal judge in Washington, DC, rejected a government request that Google be forced to sell its Chrome browser in a separate antitrust case.

Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda responded to the ruling, saying, “This decision misunderstands how our products work, and we will appeal it. Our privacy tools give people control over their data, and when they turn off personalization, we honor that choice.”

The tech giant has long faced scrutiny over its efforts to balance privacy protections with its advertising-driven business model. Google has sought to phase out traditional online tracking cookies in favor of a system it says is less invasive but still effective for targeted ads.

Cookies—small files placed on browsers—are central to online advertising, though their use has increasingly drawn regulatory attention.

On the same day as the U.S. ruling, France’s data protection authority (CNIL) imposed record fines against Google and fashion retailer Shein for violations of cookie regulations. Google was fined 325 million euros ($350 million), while Shein was ordered to pay 150 million euros ($175 million).

According to CNIL, both companies failed to obtain users’ free and informed consent before placing advertising cookies on their devices. The decision may still be appealed.

Google said it would review the ruling and emphasized that it has complied with earlier CNIL directives. This marks the third time the watchdog has penalized Google over cookies, following fines of 100 million euros in 2020 and 150 million in 2021.

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