Google has agreed to pay $68 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused its voice assistant of illegally recording users’ conversations, says news agency Reuters. As part of the settlement, eligible users who owned Google devices dating back to May 2016 will get a payout from the company. The proposed settlement was filed in a California federal court and now requires approval by US District Judge Beth Labson Freeman.
The class-action lawsuit, originally filed in 2019 alleged that Google Assistant sometimes activated on its own without a user saying a wake word, a situation described as “false accepts. As a result, the voice assistant was accused of recording private conversations without consent. TechCrunch reported that it reached out to Google for comment on the settlement.
The company denied the claims that it unlawfully intercepted or recorded confidential communications or improperly shared such data, according to Reuters report. The suit further claimed that some of this recorded information was shared with third parties and used for targeted advertising and other purposes. Google did not admit any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.
Rising Privacy Concerns in Smart Device Technology
Recent legal actions highlight ongoing privacy issues with smart devices. In 2021, Apple settled a lawsuit for $95 million, accused of having its voice assistant, Siri, record conversations without user activation. Similarly, Google faced scrutiny over privacy practices, agreeing in 2025 to pay $1.4 billion to Texas to resolve two lawsuits alleging breaches of state data privacy laws. These cases reflect a growing unease among consumers regarding the potential for smart devices to listen in without consent, a concern that has been echoed across the technology sector.