Google parent company Alphabet (GOOGL) has been fined $425.7 million U.S. for snooping on people’s smartphones over the past decade.
The judgement against Alphabet was made in a San Francisco court and involves a class-action lawsuit covering about 98 million smartphones operated in the U.S. between 2016 and 2024.
The damages awarded in the case workout to about $4 U.S. per smartphone.
Alphabet denied in court that it improperly tracked the online activity of people who thought they had shielded themselves with privacy controls.
However, a jury disagreed and concluded that the company had been spying on people in violation of California’s privacy laws.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that Alphabet had used the data they collected from smartphones without users’ permission to help sell targeted advertisements.
The lawyers who brought the case against Alphabet to trial hailed the outcome as a victory for privacy protections.
The verdict in the privacy case comes a day after Alphabet avoided the U.S. Department of Justice’s attempt to break up the company in a landmark antitrust case.
A federal judge in the antitrust case is only requiring the company to share some of its online search data with rivals, a decision many analysts called a “slap on the wrist.”
GOOGL stock has gained 23% this year to trade at $232.30 U.S. per share.
