Ninth Circuit Upholds $62M Google Location Tracking Settlement
The Ninth Circuit upheld a $62 million settlement over Google's unauthorized location tracking.
Why it matters: This ruling exemplifies growing legal scrutiny on tech companies' data practices and highlights evolving compliance and litigation risks for privacy and tech counsel.
- The settlement covers about 247.7 million U.S. users whose location data was tracked despite disabling 'Location History'.
- The $62 million fund will go to internet privacy nonprofits due to de minimis individual payouts under $3.
- The Ninth Circuit affirmed the district court 2-1, endorsing the cy pres fund distribution.
- Previously, in November 2022, Google agreed to a $391.5 million settlement with 40 states over similar allegations.
On August 26, 2026, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a $62 million settlement in a class action accusing Google of tracking users' location data even after they disabled the 'Location History' feature.
The class action claims Google continued to collect and store location information on approximately 247.7 million U.S. mobile device users who had disabled this setting.
Due to the massive size of the class, individual payouts would be less than $3. The court approved distributing the settlement fund to nonprofit organizations engaged in internet privacy work under a cy pres arrangement.
The 2-1 appellate ruling affirmed the district court's decision, rejecting objections advocating for direct payments to each class member as economically impractical. The court noted it was not an abuse of discretion to use cy pres when individual distributions would be negligible, saying, "While it might have been technically feasible to identify non-claimant class members and distribute the remaining fund to them, it was not an abuse of discretion for the district court to resort to cy pres where the non-claimants would receive the 'de minimis' amount of less than $3.00."
This settlement is part of a broader legal challenge to tech companies’ data collection ethics. In November 2022, Google agreed to a separate $391.5 million settlement with 40 state attorneys general over similar location tracking practices, emphasizing significant regulatory and financial pressure on Google.
Privacy advocates, like Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, have criticized Google's practices: "For years Google has prioritized profit over their users’ privacy. They have been crafty and deceptive."
Legal professionals should watch these rulings closely as they illustrate how courts balance massive class actions with practical remedies. The approval of cy pres in such contexts may shape settlement strategies and compliance standards for privacy and data protection going forward.
By the numbers:
- $62 million — settlement fund upheld by Ninth Circuit
- 247.7 million — U.S. users in the settlement class
- $3 — estimated individual payout if distributed directly
- 2-1 — Ninth Circuit decision split
- $391.5 million — related November 2022 multi-state settlement with Google