Google BUSTED in Shocking $425 Million Scandal for Secretly Spying on 98 Million People…

Me: “I love my privacy”

Google: “Lol…” 

$425 million. That’s the bill Alphabet just got slapped with after doing something we all suspected for years: sneakily vacuuming up user data from 2016 to 2024… even when people turned off their so-called privacy settings. The case covered roughly 98 million users across 174 million devices, meaning if you used Uber, Venmo, or Instagram in that window, there’s a non-zero chance your “private” clicks got Hoovered into Mountain View’s servers anyway.

Google caught being like… 

(Source: Giphy) 

In short, plaintiffs originally wanted $31 billion, but the jury said no dice on punitive damages since Google didn’t act with “malicious intent.” Instead, they handed down a $425.7 million penalty, which is still a serious ding, even for a company with nearly $300B in annual revenue. As for Google, they claim the jury just “misunderstood how our products work,” and promised to appeal. Their sus line? The data collected was “nonpersonal, pseudonymous, encrypted, and segregated.” Translation: “Sure, we watched you, but we didn’t know it was you you.” Try putting that one in a dating profile LMAO. 

(Source: Fox Business) 

Keep in mind, this is the same Google who wrote Texas a $1.4B check for biometric snooping and shelled out $392M to settle with 40 states over location tracking back in 2023. Oh, and don’t forget last year’s incognito mode settlement, where it agreed to delete billions of private browsing records. At this point, Google cutting nine-figure privacy checks is as regular as Apple shipping a new iPhone charger nobody asked for.

Of course, you’d think this would be a warning sign for investors, right? Wrongo. $425 million is nothing to the home of the “green bubble”. However, the reputational rot is real AF. For instance, every time Google swears users are in control of their data, another courtroom receipt proves otherwise. Investors don’t panic because the fines aren’t existential, but regulators and lawyers are clearly circling (like they’ve been for quite sometime). 

(Source: Giphy) 

So yeah, if you thought “turning off personalization” actually stopped Google from tracking you, congrats… you could be subject to some compensation (haha jk). With that said though, while bagholders won’t see a dime (settlements like this rarely goose the stock), you can at least say you were part of the largest unpaid beta test in Silicon Valley history. Until next time, friends…

At the time of publishing, Stocks.News holds positions in Alphabet (Google), Uber, and Apple as mentioned in the article.