Google Ordered to Pay $147M in Legal Fees After $425M Privacy Trial Loss
Synopsis
US District Judge Richard Seeborg approved nearly $147 million in fees for the firms that won last year’s privacy trial against Google, where a jury found the company liable for collecting app activity from millions of users who had switched off tracking; Google plans to appeal.
Google's Privacy Case finally reaches the latest phase as a US judge grants legal fees of $146.78M to attorneys representing around 98 million users in the class action.
In September 2025, U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg in San Francisco approved the fees, following a jury verdict that Google collected the app activity information from users who requested that the company not do so. The jury gave $425.7 million in damages.
Jury Award Remains After Google Challenge
According to the Google privacy case website, the judgment issued by the Google privacy case is $440,345,685.40, plus interest from the date of its issuance through March 2, 2026. Interest has been gathering and Google has made an effort to have the judgment overturned, and has indicated that it is appealing the case.
The approved legal fees represent about one-third of the judgment. Filings related to the lawsuit showed that the attorneys working on it spent over 49,670 hours on the case.
The Google privacy case has to do with the people who use smartphones and tablets who claimed that Google still collects information on their visits to mobile apps even after they turned it off.
Privacy Compliance Remains a Business Issue
The Google privacy case is unfolding at a broader backdrop of increasing regulation on the collection and use of personal data by businesses in the United States and Australia.
Covered organisations are subject to the Privacy Act 1988 in Australia and to Australian Privacy Principles, whilst the U.S. has a variety of federal privacy regulations and state laws, rather than a single national privacy law.
The Google privacy case follows a pattern of a growing number of regulators and courts challenging people's digital practices and the ways that digital businesses acquire consent.
Alphabet Reports $119.8 Billion Quarterly Revenue
The Google privacy case is the latest in Alphabet's financial report. In second quarter 2026, it recorded revenue of $119.796 billion, which is 24% higher than the $96.428 billion in the same quarter last year.
Alphabet had net income of $112.107 billion for the quarter. Alphabet's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission reported that Google Services revenue grew by 12% to $94.54 billion and Google Cloud revenue jumped 82% to $24.768 billion.
The new decision does not affect the underlying verdict, and Google continues its legal battle.
Source: Reuters
Pooja Malik is a business journalist with over six years of experience covering startups, entrepreneurship, and emerging trends. She has previously worked with leading media platforms such as YourStory Media and BW BusinessWorld, where she reported on business, policy, and market developments. Currently, she serves as Editor at The Inspirepreneur Magazine, where she writes and edits stories across business, lifestyle, and travel, with a focus on clarity, accuracy, and reader relevance.
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