Google Safari lawsuit: iPhone users win appeal to seek £3bn in damages
Google faces a potential £3bn bill after judges ruled that a Google Safari tracking lawsuit on behalf of 4m iPhone users can proceed.
The Court of Appeal today overruled the High Court’s dismissal of a case alleging that Google secretly tracked the web activity of more than 4m iPhone users.
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Consumers’ Google You Owe Us (GYOU) group, led by ex-Which director Richard Lloyd, has accused the search giant of using a Safari workaround to override iOS users’ privacy settings between 2011 and 2012.
That allowed the tech behemoth to track users’ browsing habits and search histories without their consent, consumers alleged.
GYOU estimates the 4m users could receive £750 each in compensation, a sum that would cost Google £3bn in damages.
The High Court last year dismissed the claim, saying defendants had not provided sufficient evidence for their demand for compensation.
But the Court of Appeal today ruled that “claimant[s] can recover damages for loss of control of their data … without proving pecuniary loss or distress”.
Lloyd said: “Today’s judgment sends a very clear message to Google and other large tech companies: you are not above the law.
“Google can be held to account in this country for misusing people’s personal data, and groups of consumers can together ask the courts for redress when firms profit unlawfully from ‘repeated and widespread’ violations of our data protection rights. We will take this fight against Google all the way.”
Google said it would now seek permission to appeal today’s judgement.
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“Protecting the privacy and security of our users has always been our No. 1 priority,” a Google spokesperson said.
“This case relates to events that took place nearly a decade ago and that we addressed at the time.
“We believe it has no merit and should be dismissed.”
“This decision is a potentially significant milestone in opening group litigation risk for data breach claims,” Andrew Dyson, partner at DLA Piper, said.
“Previously, English civil procedure rules acted as an effective barrier to group litigation, requiring claimant lawyers to build a specific group of claimants. This was costly and time consuming to achieve and a deterrent for all but the most determined.”
Money Saving Expert founder Martin Lewis added: “This Court of Appeal ruling is hugely significant for consumer protection.
“The UK has never really had class actions like those across the Atlantic. We’ve only really seen mass consumer redress in highly regulated sectors – like finance, where there is a non-court authority that can dictate what must happen – or in rare cases where there is a specific law enabling it.
“Yet here, the Court has allowed a team of lawyers and campaigners to sue Google on behalf of the possibly millions whose data they say is affected – and in doing so it is likely to open the door to other similar actions. And with such an imbalance between the power, weight and wealth of big business and individual consumers, that is welcome.”
Main image credit: Getty