Google settles privacy lawsuit for $68m over voice assistant

Google agreed to pay $68m to settle a lawsuit claiming that its voice-activated assistant spied inappropriately on smartphone users, violating their privacy.

A preliminary class-action settlement was filed late on Friday night in the San Jose, California, federal court, and requires approval by US district judge Beth Labson Freeman. Smartphone users accused Google, a unit of Alphabet, of illegally recording and disseminating private conversations after Google Assistant was triggered, in order to send them targeted advertising.

Google Assistant is designed to react when people use “hot words” such as “Hey Google” or “OK Google”, similar to Apple’s Siri. Users objected to receiving ads after Google Assistant misperceived what they said as hot words, known as “false accepts”.

Google denied wrongdoing but settled to avoid the risk, cost and uncertainty of litigation, court papers show. The Mountain View, California-based company declined to comment on Monday. The settlement covers people who bought Google devices or were subjected to false accepts since 18 May 2016, court papers show. Lawyers for plaintiffs may seek up to one-third of the settlement fund, or about $22.7m, for legal fees.

Apple reached a similar $95m settlement with smartphone users last year.