What the Google Incognito Class Action Settlement Says

As of October 16, 2024, the court has not finalized the terms in the Google Incognito class action settlement. However, we do know that Google must make changes to Incognito to block third-party cookies by default, delete billions of records, and pay the plaintiff attorney fees. Further, the settlement does not award damages to affected users, but users retain their right to pursue independent lawsuits through their state courts.

These are the preliminary terms of the settlement agreement and could be subject to change during the settlement approval process.

Specific Details Regarding the Incognito Class Action Settlement

So far, four items in the Google Incognito class action settlement have been shared with the public. Those four items include the following terms:

• First, Google has agreed to delete billions of data records it surreptitiously collected from Incognito users between June 2016 to December 2023.
• Second, Google must change the default settings for Incognito to allow users to block third-party cookies, and it will not track users’ choice to browse privately.
• Third, the plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit sought $5 billion in damages. The settlement does not include any monetary award. Instead, affected individuals can file a separate lawsuit against Google in their state’s respective courts.
• Fourth, the plaintiff’s legal representatives in the Google Incognito class action lawsuit are seeking $217 million in attorney’s fees. U.S. District Court Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers denied a request from Google to cut the plaintiff’s attorney’s fees by 25% and refused the tech giant’s request that she review the thousands of the plaintiff attorneys’ time sheet entries.

Again, these terms have not been approved yet. However, if you used Incognito between June 2016 to December 2023, you may qualify to file an Incognito Mode lawsuit.

Google Settled the Incognito Class Action Lawsuit in December 2023

In June of 2020, the Google Incognito class-action lawsuit was filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The plaintiffs in the $5 billion class-action lawsuit accused Google of tracking their activity with Google Analytics and Google Ad Manager while using the private search Incognito Mode. The lawsuit asserted that users of Incognito had an expectation of privacy, and Google’s data collection policies were a violation of user privacy and the law, such as the Federal Wiretap Act and California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA).

In December 2023, Google settled the class action lawsuit but claimed no wrongdoing. The company stated that Incognito was only ever intended to prevent data being saved locally on the user’s device.

Where Do We Go From Here?

This class action lawsuit – and other legal cases against Google – could mark a shift in the dominance of tech companies like Google. Additionally, we may see further steps taken against the tech giant, as it has also lost its recent anti-trust lawsuit, which could result in Google being broken up.

If you used Google Incognito Mode between June 2016 to December 2023, you may have the grounds for a lawsuit.

Take the quiz to see if you qualify to file an Incognito mode lawsuit.