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UK judge throws out $4.3 billion civil case against Google
August 08, 2025
Today, a high court judge in the United Kingdom dismissed a case against Google which could have cost the search engine giant up to 3.3 billion pounds (~$4.4 billion), viaThe Guardian.
The civil case revolved around people who used the Safari web browser on iPhones in 2011 through 2012. In Safari’s settings was a module that said “Do not track,” which was in the “on” position by default. The plaintiff in the case alleges that most consumers likely thought this meantGooglewould not track their web browsing.
However, Google was tracking users’ web browsing anyway, an act that the plaintiff says violates British law.
The plaintiff in the case — calling itself “Google You Owe Us” — is led by Richard Lloyd, a frequent critic of Google and advocate for internet privacy regulation. Although Lloyd claims Google violated the law with its tracking in 2011 and 2012, he decided to form a civil case against the company instead of a criminal one.
Lloyd and Google You Owe Us obtained funding for legal fees from a litigation firm calledTherium, which markets itself as a way for businesses, groups, and individuals to obtain “the costs of pursuing [a] claim in return for a share of the proceeds payable if, and only if, the claim is successful.”
Mr. Justice Warby — the high court judge for the case — made these statements in his dismissal:
In other words, Justice Warby thinks what Google did is not right, but doesn’t think the amount of money Google You Owe Us wanted aligned with that wrongdoing.
Google You Owe Us wanted as much as 750 pounds (~$980) for every U.K. iPhone user from 2011 to 2012, which is around 4.4 million people.
If the case had been found in the plaintiff’s favor, Google would have had to give the funds to Google You Owe Us, which would then disperse the settlement to the affected users. It’s clear from Warby’s statement that he was concerned the money would mostly go to Richard Lloyd and Therium.
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