Google fined $314 Million over unconsented use of Android users’ cellular data

A California jury has ordered Google to pay $314 million in damages for passively using Android users’ cellular data without their permission. The decision marks the conclusion of a class-action lawsuit that has been in litigation since 2019.

The plaintiffs argued that Google’s Android operating system was designed to transmit user data even while devices were idle. Moreover, it utilized cellular networks rather than relying on Wi-Fi connections, effectively offloading operational costs onto consumers.

The court sided with the plaintiffs, finding that the company’s practices violated California law and constituted unauthorized use of private resources for corporate benefit.

“Google’s unauthorized use of their cellular data violates California law,” the complaint stated, “and requires Google to compensate plaintiffs for the value of the cellular data that Google uses for its own benefit without their permission.”

Hundreds of daily passive transfers

The lawsuit detailed how Android devices quietly communicated with Google servers hundreds of times per day, even when users had closed all apps and left their devices dormant. These "passive transfers" included system logs, network status, and app activity. According to the plaintiffs, this information was not time-sensitive and could have been sent later over Wi-Fi.

As part of their evidence, the plaintiffs referenced a case where a Samsung Galaxy S7, fresh out of the box, with default settings and connected to a new Google account sent and received nearly 9MB of cellular data per day. 94% of the communications went directly to Google, totaling approximately 389 transmissions in just 24 hours.

In another experiment from 2018, an Android phone with the Chrome browser running in the background made 900 background data exchanges in a day, while a comparable iPhone with Safari open transmitted “significantly less information,” demonstrating what the plaintiffs claimed was a more privacy-conscious design on Apple’s part.

Google’s defense

Google contended that the data transfers are necessary for maintaining the performance, security, and reliability of its devices and services. In a statement following the verdict, a company spokesperson said:

“We respectfully disagree with the jury’s decision and will appeal. These background transfers support features that are critical to the Android experience. We disclose them in our terms of service and obtain user consent.”

However, the jury ruled that disclosure alone was insufficient, especially since the users were not given an option to limit these transmissions to Wi-Fi only or adequately informed about their frequency and scale.

The news come just two months after the company agreed to pay nearly $1.4 billion to settle lawsuits in Texas over unauthorized tracking of users’ physical location and retention of facial recognition data.