The US Court of Appeals ruled that Chrome users can restart privacy lawsuits, Google may face significant compensation risks

According to the financial news app Zhitong Finance, a US appellate court has ruled that users of Google Chrome browser will have the opportunity to refile a lawsuit accusing Google (GOOGL.US) of collecting personal information without user consent. These users chose not to sync their browser with a Google account but believe that Google still collected their data without permission.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco pointed out that the lower court judge's decision to dismiss the class action lawsuit needs to be reevaluated, focusing on whether rational Chrome users truly consented to Google collecting data while they browse. This Tuesday, the court supported this ruling with a 3-0 vote. It is worth noting that Google agreed last year to destroy billions of user records to settle a lawsuit alleging tracking of users' private browsing behavior, including those using Chrome's "incognito" mode.

Google stated that it disagrees with this ruling and firmly believes that the facts of the case support its position. Google emphasized that the Chrome Sync feature is designed to help users seamlessly use Chrome across different devices and provides clear privacy control options.

Matthew Wesler, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs, expressed satisfaction with Tuesday's judgment and looks forward to further proceedings in the case.

This case involves all users who did not sync their Chrome browser with a Google account since July 27, 2016. They argue that Google should adhere to its commitment in the Chrome privacy statement, which states that users do not need to provide any personal information when using Chrome unless they actively enable the "sync" feature, in which case Google has no right to obtain such information.

However, the lower court judge believed that Google's general privacy policy applies to this case because as a company headquartered in Mountain View, California, Google collects user information regardless of which browser the plaintiffs use.

Judge Milan Smith of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals pointed out in the ruling that this understanding is incorrect. He wrote, "In this case, Google has a general privacy policy, but to promote Chrome, Google seems to imply that unless users enable the sync feature, certain information will not be sent to Google. A rational user may not understand that they have actually consented to Google's data collection."

Currently, the case has been remanded to US District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, who had dismissed the case in December 2022. Under the settlement agreement reached between Google and the plaintiffs, users have the right to individually sue Google and seek compensation. In California alone, tens of thousands of users have filed lawsuits in state courts.

The full name of the case is Calhoun et al v. Google LLC, case number 22-16993, being heard by the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals