A $5 billion lawsuit filed against Google for tracking user's information in incognito mode

Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash

The tech giant Google is facing a lawsuit which alleges that the Alphabet-owned company is tracking users' data even when they are in Incognito mode, internet users browse in incognito to keep their search history and browsing data private so that no one will know about their online activity.

As reported by Reuters, the lawsuit accuses Google of tracking user's online activity by using "Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager and other applications and website plug-ins, including smartphone apps, regardless of whether users click on Google-supported ads," this means Google has one way or other to track a user's browsing behavior.

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The complaint filed in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of California says that "Google cannot continue to engage in the covert and unauthorized data collection from virtually every American with a computer or phone." The complaint says that this allows Google to know "even the most intimate and potentially embarrassing things" about a user.

The complaint said that millions of users who browsed the internet in incognito or private mode since June 1st, 2016 were affected and the lawsuit demands at least $5,000 for each user as damages, however, a Google Spoeskperson, Jose Castaneda has defended the company.

He said that Google will "defend itself vigorously against the claims," and continued to say that "As we clearly state each time you open a new incognito tab, websites might be able to collect information about your browsing activity."