Google agrees to destroy billions of website visit data to settle a class-action lawsuit.

Google is set to delete data records related to incognito mode in order to settle a class-action lawsuit. Google has agreed to delete billions of data records related to user activities in incognito mode to resolve the class-action lawsuit.

A class action lawsuit filed in 2020 by the law firm Boies Schiller Flexner accuses the company of collecting user visit data without their knowledge or explicit consent. The lawsuit claims that the IT giant deceived users into believing that their online activities would not be tracked in incognito mode.

"Google suggests that consumers are rightly concerned about the company tracking their personal information and browsing history. To reassure them, Google promises consumers that they can 'browse web pages privately' and control what information [they] provide to Google."

To prevent information exchange with Google, Google recommends launching a browser such as Google Chrome, Safari, Microsoft Edge, or Firefox in "private browsing mode." "Both statements are false," states the class action lawsuit. "When users perform one or both of the aforementioned actions, Google continues to track, collect, and identify their browsing data in real time, which violates federal and state wiretap laws and infringes on consumers' privacy rights."

In December 2023, Google agreed to settle a $5 billion privacy lawsuit regarding claims that the company tracked the online activity of people using the "incognito" mode in its Chrome web browser. According to the lawsuit, the company used its advertising technologies and other methods to collect data on users' visits and actions, even when people were using the "private" browsing mode. The tech giant is accused of collecting an unaccountable amount of information.

“We are pleased to settle this lawsuit, which we have always considered to be baseless,” said Google representative Jose Castaneda in a statement. “We never associate data with users when using incognito mode.

Despite the fact that the plaintiffs demanded $5 billion in compensation, the settlement does not involve any payment from Google. Individuals will be able to file lawsuits against the company in U.S. state courts, as outlined in the court documents.

“We never associate data with users when they are in incognito mode,” said Google representative Jose Castaneda. “We are happy to delete old technical data that has never been linked to a specific individual and has not been used in any form of personalization.”

The company must also change the default settings for incognito mode so that the browser does not collect third-party cookies; this setting should be maintained for the next five years. The court also ordered Google to delete any information that could identify personal data collected during private browsing. The company must hide data such as IP addresses and aggregate User-Agent strings. The IT giant will also remove the X-Client-Data header, which is a kind of "tracking identifier" used by Chrome. Privacy advocates suggest that the company used it to track users, but the company has always denied this claim.