Google was sued in a class-action lawsuit in the United States filed on Tuesday for breaching user privacy and tracking their internet use while the user is browsing in "private" browsing mode.
The lawsuit has accused the tech giant of illegally invading the privacy of millions of users by amassing data on their internet use from browsers set in “private mode”, according to the complaint filed in US District Court in San Jose, California.
"Billions of times a day, Google causes computers around the world to report the real-time internet communications of hundreds of millions of people to Google," the complaint read as quoted by a Reuters report.
The lawsuit seeks at least $5 billion from the tech giant. It has accused Google parent Alphabet Inc. of collecting user data through various applications and website plug-ins such as Google Analytics and Google Ad Manager even when the user is in a private mode claiming an invasion of privacy and violations of federal wiretapping law.
Google has denied the claims and has said that they are transparent with consumers that even if they opt for private browsing, other websites may still collect information, Bloomberg reported.
“We strongly dispute these claims and we will defend ourselves vigorously against them,” a Google spokesperson said as quoted by the report.
The case was filed by a high-profile litigation firm Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, the report said.
The tech giant has been facing multiple lawsuits related to user privacy. Most recently, the state of Arizona had filed a lawsuit against the company for its “deceptive” practices of using consumer’s location data.
Attorney General Mark Brnovich in a series of tweets explained the circumstances under which the lawsuit was filed.
“Today we filed a consumer fraud lawsuit against Google for deceptive and unfair practices used to obtain users’ location data, which Google then exploits for its lucrative advertising business,” Brnovich had tweeted.
According to Washington Post report, over 40 attorney generals in the US-led by Texas are looking to investigate the company’s practices and are likely to file more such lawsuits by fall.
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