A California jury has ordered Google to pay more than $314.6 million to Android smartphone users in the state after finding the company misused customer cell phone data.
The decision came in a class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of about 14 million California residents who used Android devices.
The lawsuit said Google collected data from users’ phones without permission while the devices were idle. The jury found that these actions caused Android users to bear costs for Google’s benefit, such as using cellular data for company purposes like targeted ads.
The case was first filed in 2019 in a state court in San Jose. The plaintiffs argued that the data collection happened without user consent and violated privacy rights.
Google said the users had agreed to the data transfers through its terms of service and privacy policies and that no actual harm was done.
Google plans to appeal the ruling. A spokesperson for the company said the decision misunderstood key services important to the security and performance of Android devices.
The plaintiffs’ lawyer said the jury’s decision confirmed the seriousness of Google’s actions. A separate federal case with similar claims for users in the other 49 states is set to go to trial in April 2026.
