Judge Rules No Class Action Against Google Over Chrome Data Collection

In a significant legal victory for Google, a U.S. judge has rejected a class action lawsuit alleging the tech giant illegally harvested personal information from Chrome users who didn't sync their browsers with Google accounts.

On Monday, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ruled in favor of Google, citing that individual user consent must be handled on a case-by-case basis, as assessing each user's understanding of data policies would overwhelm the court system. Consequently, she dismissed the class action with prejudice, preventing the case from being refiled.

This decision aligns with a prior appellate court directive that mandated consideration of whether reasonable Chrome users had voluntarily agreed to their data being collected. Google's lawyer applauded the ruling, emphasizing Chrome's existing privacy controls.

(With inputs from agencies.)