Steven Cohen  |  January 9, 2020

Category: Data Breach

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Google+ icon on smart phoneGoogle has agreed to pay $7.5 million to settle claims arising from a data breach in its Google+ platform that potentially exposed users’ profile information to third-parties.

The Google data breach reportedly occurred between October to December 2018 and compromised a variety of information such as Google+ users’ names, genders, and email addresses.

In addition, profile fields like users’ occupations and places where they lived could have also been taken, according to the recent settlement memorandum.

The settlement will benefit: “All persons residing in the United States who: (1) had a consumer Google+ account for any period of time between January 1, 2015, and April 2, 2019; and (2) had their non-public Profile Information exposed as a result of the software bugs Google announced on October 8, 2018, and December 10, 2018.”

The memorandum notes that the plaintiffs do not know the total number of users who meet the definition of the Google+ Class, but they estimate that under 10 million users in the United States had account settings which could have exposed their personal information by the second breach. The memorandum also states that the number of people potentially affected by the first breach can’t be conclusively determined.

The settlement fund will reportedly be paid to claimants on a pro rata basis with an initial cash payment of $5. If there are not enough funds to pay the claimants, the payments will be reduced on a pro rata basis.

In addition, if enough funds remain after all the claimants have stepped forward, the amount per claimant will be increased up to $12 per claimant. The memorandum says that Class Members will not get more than $12.

“The Settlement provides quick relief for Settlement Class Members, including payments for potentially disseminating their non-public information to unauthorized third-party application developers,” the settlement memorandum notes.

The settlement notes that personal information was never accessed by hackers but was potentially revealed to third-party developers that were known to Google.

The memorandum states that in October 2018, Google announced that it would shut down its Google+ social media service.

In that announcement, the company reportedly revealed that a “software glitch” had permitted third-party application access to Google+ users’ personal information between 2015 and March 2018.

Two class action lawsuits were then filed against the company and were subsequently consolidated into one case, according to the memorandum. The first Google+ class action lawsuit was filed in October 2018 by plaintiffs Matt Matic and Zak Harris.

The plaintiffs claimed that Google did nothing to prevent the unauthorized compromising of Google+ users’ personal information. In addition, they alleged that Google waited seven months between discovering a first data leak and reporting it to consumers.

The Google class action further stated that Google caused a second Google+ data leak while trying to remedy the first one.

The plaintiffs say Google violated California’s Unfair Competition Law and filed claims of negligence, invasion of privacy, breach of confidence, breach of contract, and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing.

Did you use the Google+ social media platform? Leave a message in the comments section below.

The plaintiffs are represented by Clayeo C. Arnold and Joshua H. Watson of Clayeo C. Arnold PLC, John A. Yanchunis, Johnathan B. Cohen and Ryan J. McGee of Morgan & Morgan, and Ivy T. Ngo of Franklin D. Azar & Associates.

The Google+ Data Breach Class Action Lawsuit is In re: Google Plus Profile Litigation, Case No. 5:18-cv-06164, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

UPDATE: August 2020, the Google Plus account class action settlement is now open. Click here to file a claim.

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379 thoughts onGoogle+ Class Action Ends In $7.5M Settlement

  1. George says:

    The final payout was $2.16

  2. april chavez says:

    i recieved this email, i was a google+ user then my google account was hacked so i never got to respond to it but am now a victim of an active identity theft and fraud case and am going to add this to my filing because google is a big part of the issue because they never helped me to access hacked account which in time has gotten wotse dark web has shared my info 10000000000000000000 of times with the 1 gmail address i had since 1998 they never helped me with asked multiple times since then ………….

  3. D Rob says:

    12.00 dollars. All the time I physically spent to opt out numerous times. All the harassed phone calls, emails, etc and all they will give me is 12.00 while the States, Lawyers and everyone besides the victims keep millions for themselves. I just can’t believe that people are so caught up on 12.00 while they get millions. We need a class action suit against all of them. Politicians on both sides care nothing because of the brown envelopes they get for turning a blind eye.

    1. Kristen says:

      $12 is a damn joke! I spent days trying to opt out of all these emails & phone calls too. They kept finding a way to track/call/email me! It’s so annoying & happens til this day. The victims get $12 while the lawyers, prosecutors get thousands & millions! That’s definitely not right!

  4. Bill says:

    What a joke, Plaintiffs get $1,500 – Lawyers get $1.75 million plus $200,000 – we get a max of $12. Is something wrong here?

    1. Dwayne Robinson says:

      You my friend are correct. Its a joke. I spent hours opting out each time with google settings and they still tracked me. No matter how many times I thought it was saved and completed. its a joke, like I never did it in the first place. I get tons of emails, phone calls and only 12.00 for the headache. That is a crime. We go thru the torture and the States, Lawyers and others besides the victims make money off of our misery.

      1. Phred says:

        Part of the reason you only get $12 is because the total minus the lawyers cut, the administrators’ cut, and the named plaintiff’s cuts is divided by the total number of class members. Here is the part you are not going to like; the class member list is inflated. Yup, your cut is reduced because a large portion of the class members are not really class members at all, and in many cases are not eligible for any money. Yup, that happens all the time. I have five Gmail accounts. I received the notice on four of the five accounts. My wife got the notice. My brother got it on both of his accounts. NONE OF US HAVE EVER USED GOOGLE+. So in my family alone there are seven fake class members. I would wager to say that 50% or more of the alleged class members do not belong on the list, and you have to share your cut with all those class members who are not entitled to anything.

  5. Josh Young says:

    Please add me, I have had more than just the minimum info leaked from Googles Data servers.

    1. Rosalind says:

      I’ve been added over a year ago but I’ve heard nothing since I filed

  6. Lauren Floyd says:

    How do I get added to this class action? I was a very active member on Google+.

  7. Chantil Morris says:

    How do I submit a claim?

  8. Kathy says:

    How do.I Submit a claim form please
    State address for submit claim information

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