The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom has blocked and denied a planned British class action of 3.2 billion pounds that is $4.3 billion against Google. This is because of the allegations which the internet unlawfully tracked the personal data and information of various iPhone users.

The job judges of Britain unanimously granted a Google appeal against the data privacy case on 10th November. This was a move that made the string of claims upset who was waiting in the wings against companies like Facebook and Tiktok. Richard Lloyd who was a consumer rights activist and former director of Which Magazine brought a landmark case that extended Britain’s class action and even included compensation claims for the misuse of personal data. This happened even if there was no actual financial loss or distress. Google stated that the actual claim was related to events and took place a long time back.

Due to these allegations and unlawful misuse of data, people expressed concerns about whether they are safe and secure online. That’s why the Google spokesperson told that they have all the year focused on creating different products and infrastructure which would protect and respect a person’s privacy. An allegation was put up by Richard Lloyd stating that Google had taken the personal data of 5 million iPhone users between 2011 and 2012. According to him, Google bypassed the default privacy settings on Safari Browser to track internet browsing histories. Besides this, Lloyd alleged that Google sold a targeted advertising service and earned $80 billion in 2016 from advertisement. On the other hand, Google stated that it protected the privacy of all people. Judge Leggatt said that there must be sufficient proof against Google to claim for damages and also for the claim to succeed. Nevertheless, the Supreme court dismissed the petition as there was no proof of the attempt made by Google to misuse personal data or any wrongful use of data that was suffered by an individual or any distress as a result of the breach.

– Sharanya Chakraborty

(Content Writer, WCSF)