{"id":3086376,"date":"2026-01-26T16:43:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T00:43:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=3086376"},"modified":"2026-01-26T16:59:53","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T00:59:53","slug":"google-pays-68-million-to-settle-claims-its-voice-assistant-spied-on-users","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2026\/01\/26\/google-pays-68-million-to-settle-claims-its-voice-assistant-spied-on-users\/","title":{"rendered":"Google pays $68M to settle claims its voice assistant spied on users"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p id=\"speakable-summary\" class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Google agreed to pay $68 million to settle claims its voice assistant illegally spied on users to, among other things, serve them advertisements, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/sustainability\/boards-policy-regulation\/google-settles-google-assistant-privacy-lawsuit-68-million-2026-01-26\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Reuters reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Google did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement of the class-action case, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.googleassistantprivacylitigation.com\/docs\/4th%20Amended%20Consol%20Complaint.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">accused the firm<\/a> of &#8220;unlawful and intentional interception and recording of individuals\u2019 confidential communications without their consent and subsequent unauthorized disclosure of those communications to third parties.&#8221; The suit further claimed that &#8220;information gleaned from these recordings was wrongly transmitted to third parties for targeted advertising and for other purposes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The case centered on &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.googleassistantprivacylitigation.com\/docs\/Amended%20Long%20Form%20Notice_V5.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">false accepts<\/a>,&#8221; wherein Google Assistant is alleged to have activated and recorded the user&#8217;s communications even if they had not intentionally prompted it to do so with a wake word. TechCrunch reached out to Google for comment.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Americans have long suspected that their devices inappropriately spy on them. Those suspicions have led, increasingly, to claims of legal wrongdoing. In 2021, Apple <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courthousenews.com\/judge-approves-95-million-apple-settlement-over-siri-privacy-case\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">agreed to pay $95 million<\/a> to settle claims its voice assistant, Siri, had recorded their conversations without a prompt from users.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Google, like other tech giants, has faced other privacy-related litigation in recent years. Last year, the company agreed to pay $1.4 billion to the state of Texas to settle two lawsuits that claimed it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/05\/09\/technology\/google-texas-privacy-settlement.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">had violated the state&#8217;s data privacy laws<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-techcrunch-inline-cta\">\n\t<div class=\"inline-cta__wrapper\">\n\t\t<div class=\"inline-cta__logo\">\n\t\t\t<svg aria-hidden=\"true\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"41\" height=\"20\" fill=\"none\" viewBox=\"0 0 41 20\"><path fill=\"#fff\" d=\"M0 0v6.452h7.097V20h7.097V6.452h6.451V0zM27.742 13.548V6.452h-7.097V20h20v-6.452zM40.645 0H27.742v6.452h12.903z\"\/><\/svg>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"inline-cta__flag\">Techcrunch event<\/div>\n\t\t<div class=\"inline-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"inline-cta__header-container\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"inline-cta__header-container-desktop\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"inline-cta__header has-h-5-font-size\">Save up to $300 or 30% to TechCrunch Founder Summit<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"inline-cta__subheader\">1,000+<strong> founders<\/strong> and investors come together at <strong>TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026<\/strong> for a full day focused on growth, execution, and real-world scaling. 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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133574709,"featured_media":3041112,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tc-featured-article":false,"tc-header-option":"","tc-breaking-news":false,"tc-article-brief":true,"carmot_uuid":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-01-27T00:43:40Z","apple_news_api_id":"6cbeef17-d153-4a1d-9b7f-e6aa59025364","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-01-27T00:59:53Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AbL7vF9FTSh2bf-aqWQJTZA","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"tc_subtitle":"","tc_featured_image_disabled":false,"tc_exclude_from_rss_feed":false,"tc_exclude_from_content_rivers":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[426637499],"tags":[291,81,3279,577267246],"tc_region":[],"tc_event":[],"tc_storyline_tax":[],"coauthors":[577370077],"class_list":["post-3086376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-privacy","tag-apple","tag-google","tag-privacy","tag-in-brief"],"apple_news_notices":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- 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