A U.S. jury fined Google 425.7 million dollars after Google was found guilty of breaching privacy rules by illegally tracking smartphones over a period of close to ten years.

A federal jury ordered Google to pay 425.7 million dollars due to its alleged 10-year surveillance of users on their smartphones. The decision, issued in federal court in San Francisco, came after a two-week-long class-action trial on 98 million smartphones sold and used in the United States between July 2016 and September 2024.

Google had dismissed the claims that its privacy functions are working as intended. Nevertheless, the jury found the tech giant guilty of breaching California privacy laws by tracking the users who thought they had disabled personalization. Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda confirmed that the company will appeal and added that the tools it adopts respect the user's choice.

The user's lawyers claimed that Google used the data to sell more ads and wanted damages of more than 30 billion. Although the eventual award was so much smaller, lawyers rejoiced that their result was a big win in privacy terms.

The decision comes only one day after Google escaped possible disintegration in another antitrust case in the U.S. over its leading search engine, yet the company would have to provide some of its search information to its rivals.

The ruling highlights an increasing uncertainty regarding the manner in which Google manages user information and may have an impact on future privacy laws in the United States.