Google has agreed to pay $68 million in damages after a lawsuit alleged that its voice assistant recorded users and shared their words with advertisers.
Over the last few years, the likes of Google, Amazon, Apple, and others have come up with a range of home assistance tools. The biggest of which are speakers that you can ask for help with a few different things.
Many users just use these devices to play music, set alarms and timers for cooking food, or ask them for weather and traffic updates. When you’re not talking to them, the speakers aren’t supposed to be functioning or eavesdropping on your conversations.
Well, on January 23, a class-action lawsuit was brought against Google/Alphabet over claims that its voice-activated assistant spied on smartphone users and violated their privacy.
Google settles $68m lawsuit over Nest speakers
Three days after the lawsuit was filed, and without admitting any wrongdoing, Google has settled the lawsuit with a $68 million payout.
Claimants alleged that the speakers were recording conversations and giving keywords to advertisers, despite the fact they hadn’t said ‘Hey Google’ to activate the speaker’s listening capabilities.
They noticed that they were quickly being served targeted advertising that related to those conversations. As per Reuters, the settlement covers people who bought Google devices or were subjected to false accepts from May 2016.
The Google speakers are only supposed to respond to ‘Hey Google’
Google isn’t the first to settle such a claim, either. Apple were hit by a lawsuit from Fumiko Lopez back in 2021, alleging that Siri had been eavesdropping too.
The iPhone makers settled for $95 million, with claimants being able to claim compensation back in May. As per CBS News, those payments have started to hit bank accounts, and range from between $8 and $40.
It remains to be seen just how much the Google settlements will come out to.
In terms of other lawsuits, Valve is being sued in the UK for around £656 million, amid claims of “unfair” prices.
