Google has agreed to pay $68 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that it recorded users’ private conversations through its voice assistant without consent.

 

 

The case centres on Google Assistant, a virtual assistant available on many Android devices. Users claimed the feature recorded conversations after being triggered unintentionally on their phones and that those recordings were later shared with advertisers to enable targeted advertising.

 

 

In a court filing seeking approval for the settlement, Google denied any wrongdoing, stressing that it was pursuing the agreement to avoid further litigation. 

 

 

Google Assistant is designed to remain in standby mode until it detects a specific activation phrase, usually “Hey Google”. Once prompted, the device records audio and sends it to Google’s servers, where the data can be analysed. The assistant is commonly used for tasks such as checking the weather or controlling connected devices including lights and televisions.

 

 

Google has maintained that audio is not transmitted while the assistant is in standby mode. However, the lawsuit alleged that the system sometimes activated by mistake when it misinterpreted background speech as the prompt phrase, leading to the recording of conversations users believed to be private.

 

 

According to the claim, these recordings were then shared with advertisers to help create targeted advertisements. The lawsuit was brought on behalf of a group of users rather than as an individual claim.

 

 

The proposed settlement was filed on Friday in a federal court in California and will require approval from US District Judge Beth Labson Freeman. If approved, the payout will be distributed among eligible claimants as part of a class action settlement.

 

 

Individuals eligible to receive compensation include users who owned Google devices dating back to May 2016. Lawyers representing the plaintiffs may seek up to one-third of the settlement amount, which would total around $22 million in legal fees.

 

 

The case follows a similar settlement reached earlier this year involving Apple. In January, Apple agreed to pay $95 million to resolve a lawsuit alleging that some of its devices listened to users through the voice-activated assistant Siri without permission.

 

 

Apple also denied the allegations and rejected claims that it “recorded, disclosed to third parties, or failed to delete, conversations recorded as the result of a Siri activation” without user consent.