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Google hit with class action lawsuit over alleged iPhone data harvesting
August 15, 2025
If you’re one of five million Britons who used aniPhonea few years back, you might want to pay close attention to a class action lawsuit launched againstGoogleover the company’s alleged data snooping.
According toThe Guardian, a group called Google You Owe Us claims that Google bypassed the iPhone’s default privacy settings to collect personal information between June 2011 and February 2012. More specifically, the group accuses Google of bypassing those restrictions to track users’ internet browsing history, which the company then used to “sell a targeted advertising service.”
Google You Owe Us, headed up by former executive director of consumer body Which? Richard Lloyd, also claims that around 5.4 million Britons used the iPhone during that time period and that, as a result, they are entitled to compensation that might stem from this lawsuit.
Lloyd, who is being advised by law firm Mischon de Reya, says that Google’s unlawful collection of personal information breaches the principles in the UK’s data protection laws:
Indeed, there might be some merit to this lawsuit, if you look at where it stems from. Back in 2012, Google, along withFacebookand online advertising networks, reportedlyused a workaroundto bypass privacy restrictions on the desktop and iOS Safaribrowsers. The workaround allowed them to place cookies on your computer, and not the yummy kind, either. Rather, they were the kind that tracked your browsing habits.
At the time, Google said that the practice was limited to just Google+, and that Safari users who opted out of the company’s interest-based program were not affected. Even so, it’s clear that folks still don’t buy the company’s explanation.
It also doesn’t help that Google wasordered to paya $22.5 million fine for the same thing back in 2012, so there is some sort of precedent. According to a Google spokesperson, the lawsuit has no merit and that the company will contest it in court, so we’ll be sure to pay attention to what happens next.
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