Google+ Class Action Ends In $7.5M Settlement

Google 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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