In a courtroom showdown in San Jose, jurors slammed Google with a hefty $314.6 million verdict, siding with Android users who claimed the tech titan quietly tapped into their mobile data—even when their phones sat idle.
The class-action case, filed in California state court back in 2019, accused Google of secretly transmitting information from Android devices without user consent. This background data activity, plaintiffs argued, wasn’t just invasive—it was costly, consuming users’ cellular data for the company’s gain, especially in areas like targeted advertising.
The case represented some 14 million Android users across California, each allegedly subjected to what was described in court as “mandatory and unavoidable burdens.”
Google, unsurprisingly, isn’t backing down. A company spokesperson signaled an appeal, saying the verdict “misunderstands services that are critical to the security, performance, and reliability of Android devices.”
But for the plaintiffs’ team, led by attorney Glen Summers, the decision was a resounding affirmation: “The jury forcefully vindicated the merits of this case and reflected the seriousness of Google’s misconduct.”
Google’s defense hinged on a familiar line—users agreed to all this in the fine print. The company argued that its data transfers caused no harm and were permitted under its terms of service and privacy policies.
The California case may be just the beginning. A separate federal lawsuit targeting the same alleged behavior on behalf of Android users in the remaining 49 states is scheduled for trial in April 2026.
Whether this becomes a nationwide reckoning or just a California cautionary tale remains to be seen. But one thing’s certain—idle phones were not as idle as users thought.
