Google will pay $68 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over privacy violations by the Google Assistant. The settlement has not yet received preliminary approval; however, if you have used Google assistance and are hoping for the settlement payout, you can find the full details here.
What’s the Google Assistant Privacy Settlement about?
The lawsuit against Google Assistant was filed in 2019, where customers alleged that Google Assistant-enabled devices would activate and record conversations without users’ knowledge with a hot word, such as Okay Google or Hey Google.
The plaintiffs received ads after Google Assistant recorded their conversation, and people who use the assistant on smartphones also experience the false activations without using the wake word, or the assistant misinterprets their words. The lawsuit claims that Google wrongfully uses, collects, and shares the user information and private conversations.
The breach of user privacy violates the California Unfair Competition Law; however, Google denied any wrongdoing, but to resolve the long-standing lawsuit, they have decided to settle it with compensation. On late Friday, the preliminary proposal was filed under this case in the California federal court.
What’s the current status of the Google Assistant privacy settlement?
The preliminary proposal settlement was filed for the Google Assistant settlement, as Google agrees to pay $68 million to resolve the class action. The preliminary approval is pending and requires the approval of a federal judge, Beth Labson Freeman, in the US District Court of the Northern District of California.
The decision on the preliminary proposal of the Google Assistant settlement will be determined at the scheduled court hearing on 19 March 2026. Until we have the court approval, there is no definite information on the settlement payout and the claiming process.
Who will be covered under the Google Assistant Privacy settlement?
As per the proposed settlement of the Google Assistant Privacy settlement, there will be two classes of users in the settlement that may be eligible for the settlement payout, such as:
- Users who have bought the Google-Made device in the United States and were affected due to the false acceptance from 18 May 2016 till the date of preliminary approval. This class will be the purchaser class who bought the Google-Made Device, such as Smart Home Speakers, Google Home Hub, Pixelbook, Nest Mini, etc.
- The users of Google Assistant whose conversations were recorded and obtained by Google and shared with third parties since 16 May 2016. This class will be a privacy class whose privacy was compromised due to Google’s user privacy violation through Google Assistant.
How much payout can you expect in the Google Assistant Privacy settlement?
The settlement payout amount and processes will be disclosed when the settlement website goes live or the plaintiffs release the full information. For now, the settlement payout for each class member has not been determined yet; however, based on the reports, the plaintiffs may demand one-third of the settlement as legal fees.
If the plaintiffs’ one-third legal fees were approved, the $22.7 million would go there, and the rest would be used for the settlement works, payout, administration, and others. The payout is not determined yet, but there are some expectations, such as:
- If you fall in the purchase class, you could bag $56 for each device, and when your conversation is recorded between 18 May 2016 and the preliminary approval date,
- The class counsel estimation reveals that the purchase class payout can be between $18 to $56 for each device, while the class whose private conversation was compromised can expect to receive the payout between $2 and $10, depending on the finalized rates.
The final settlement payout is not finalized, hence wait till preliminary approval and official court order to get a clear picture on settlement payout.
When can you expect the claim process for the Google Assistant settlement?
Well, the preliminary approval hearing for the Google Assistant privacy settlement was scheduled on 19 March 2026, so you have to wait for the approval. Once the settlement gets preliminary approval, we can expect the claim process to begin by April 2026.
Once the courts approve, the settlement administration will launch the official website and update information about the claim process, settlement payout, class members, and others for the users.
How will you claim the Google Assistant Settlement?
Since the court has not approved the Google Assistant settlement yet, we do not have the claim process, but based on the general processing of the class action settlement, you can expect the following process:
- You may get the online and offline claiming option, where you can claim the settlement online through the settlement website. The approval will set a deadline for the settlement; you have to claim it before the deadline with all the supporting documents.
- You may need your Google-made device purchase records, documents related to your user privacy loss, and others from the class dates.
- Once the settlement is approved, the class members may receive notice from the administration with all the information about the settlement.
The Google Assistant Privacy settlement has reached a preliminary approval stage. We await approval on 19 March 2026, and if it is approved, the affected users can expect the claim process to begin soon afterwards.