Anyone who clicked on a link in a Google search result between October 2006 and September 2013, no matter how small, received $23 million, which the tech giant agreed to pay to settle a class action lawsuit. entitled to the settlement money.
Village manager set up website So that people can submit claims. The estimated payout for an individual is $7.70, according to the site. But that number can fluctuate depending on the number of people making valid claims.
Alphabet’s Google agreed to a settlement in August.of Consolidated class action filed in 2013 It accused the company of “storing, intentionally, systematically and repeatedly leaking” users’ search queries and histories to third-party websites and companies.
According to the lawsuit, this violates privacy laws and constitutes a breach of Google’s own privacy pledge to its users.
The lawsuit alleges that Google’s search queries “can include highly sensitive ‘personally identifiable’ information, including a user’s real name, address, phone number, credit card number, social security number, financial account number, etc.” Many, all of these add to the risk.” identity theft. “
Google has not admitted wrongdoing, but as part of the settlement, it has been asked to update its FAQ and “important terms” pages to disclose how search queries can be shared with third parties.
The claims administrator’s website says the court will decide whether to approve the agreement at a public hearing on Oct. 12. It is not clear when the payments will be distributed. Even if the court gave final approval to the settlement in October, the appeal could delay the process. According to the billing notice from the admin.
Users wishing to file a claim must provide their name, address, and email address by July 31st. Any person wishing to object to or be excluded from the Settlement must submit a form by mail by the same deadline.
Last year, Facebook’s parent company Meta agreed to pay $725 million to settle a similar class action lawsuit over its handling of user data.
