Google

Allegations that Google collected app activity data from about 98 million people through the Firebase and Google Mobile Ads SDKs even after they turned off the Web & App Activity setting.

In Rodriguez v. Google LLC (Case No. 20-cv-4688-RS, N.D. Cal.), a federal jury found on September 3, 2025 that Google unlawfully collected data from people who had turned off or paused the Web & App Activity setting on their Google account. The plaintiffs showed that Google kept collecting activity from non-Google apps such as Uber, Venmo, TikTok, Instagram and WhatsApp through the Firebase SDK and Google Mobile Ads SDK embedded in those apps. The jury awarded more than $425 million to two certified nationwide classes covering about 98 million people, one for Android devices and one for iPhones and other non-Android devices, for invasion of privacy, intrusion upon seclusion and violation of California's Comprehensive Computer Data Access and Fraud Act. With interest, the judgment stood at about $440 million as of March 2, 2026. The court denied Google's request to throw out the verdict on August 28, 2026, and Google filed a notice of appeal to the Ninth Circuit on September 21, 2026. The case is widely reported as the Gmail lawsuit, but it is about app tracking, not Gmail. No money or benefits are available now. Because the award would be shared among roughly 98 million people after fees and costs, any individual payment would likely be small. If the verdict survives appeal, class members will be notified by the court's notice administrator and told how to claim.

• People who had the Web & App Activity or supplemental Web & App Activity setting turned off or paused at least once between July 1, 2016 and September 23, 2024.
• Whose activity on a non-Google mobile app was still sent to Google through the Firebase SDK or Google Mobile Ads SDK, on Android or on iPhone and other non-Android devices.
• Enterprise accounts and supervised accounts for children under 13 are included only for the California computer access claim.
• Google has emailed notices to accounts its records show may be included.