(Image source from: Economictimes.indiatimes.com)

Google has agreed to pay 68 million dollars to resolve a lawsuit that alleges its voice-activated assistant improperly monitored smartphone users, breaching their privacy. A preliminary class action settlement was submitted late Friday night in a federal court located in San Jose, California, and it needs to be approved by U. S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman. Smartphone users accused Google, a part of Alphabet, of unlawfully recording and sharing private conversations after the Google Assistant was activated, in order to deliver them targeted ads. Google Assistant is meant to respond when users say specific phrases like "Hey Google" or "Okay Google," much like Apple's Siri. Users complained about receiving advertisements after Google Assistant misunderstood their speech as the trigger phrases, which are referred to as "false accepts. " Apple previously agreed to a similar settlement of 95 million dollars with smartphone users in December 2024. Although Google denies any wrongdoing, they chose to settle to avoid the risks, expenses, and uncertainties of a trial, according to court documents. The company located in Mountain View, California did not provide any comments on Monday.

The settlement includes individuals who purchased Google devices or experienced false accepts since May 18, 2016, as per court documents. Lawyers representing the plaintiffs may request up to one-third of the settlement amount, which is about 22.7 million dollars, for their legal fees.