Google settles $68 million lawsuit alleging voice assistant recorded users without consent

Google has agreed to pay $68 million to settle claims that its voice assistant illegally spied on users and used the information, among other purposes, to serve advertisements, Reuters reported.

The settlement resolves a class-action lawsuit that accused Google of unlawfully and intentionally intercepting and recording users’ confidential communications without consent, and of subsequently disclosing those communications to third parties. According to the lawsuit, information obtained from the recordings was transmitted to external parties for targeted advertising and other uses. Google did not admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

The case focused on so-called false accepts, in which Google Assistant was alleged to have activated and recorded conversations even when users had not deliberately triggered the service using a wake word. TechCrunch reported that it had reached out to Google for comment on the matter.

Concerns that smart devices may be listening without permission have existed for years in the United States and have increasingly resulted in legal action. In 2021, Apple agreed to pay $95 million to settle claims that its voice assistant Siri had recorded conversations without being intentionally activated by users.

Google has faced other privacy-related legal challenges in recent years. Last year, the company agreed to pay $1.4 billion to the state of Texas to settle two lawsuits alleging violations of the state’s data privacy laws, according to earlier reports.