A recent jury verdict in San Jose ordered Google to pay $314.6 million to Android users for misusing their cell phone data.

Multiple news sources reported that a California Superior Court jury found Google liable for transferring data to its servers without user consent while devices were idle. This data collection was used to benefit Google, including for targeted advertising and mapping.

Google announced it plans to appeal the verdict, stating it misunderstands services critical to Android's security and reliability.

The verdict in the civil case stems from a class-action lawsuit alleging that Google programmed Android phones to transfer data to Google servers over cellular networks, even when users weren't connected to Wi-Fi.

This data collection, according to the lawsuit, was done to further Google's corporate interests. The case is one of several recent legal challenges to Google's data privacy practices.

The jury agreed with the plaintiffs that Alphabet's Google was liable for sending and receiving information from the devices without permission while they were idle, causing what the lawsuit had called "mandatory and unavoidable burdens shouldered by Android device users for Google's benefit."

The plaintiffs filed the class action in state court in 2019 on behalf of an estimated 14 million Californians. They argued that Google collected information from idle phones running its Android operating system for company uses like targeted advertising, consuming Android users' cellular data at their expense.

Google told the court that no Android users were harmed by the data transfers and that users consented to them in the company's terms of service and privacy policies.

Another group filed a separate lawsuit in federal court in San Jose, bringing the same claims against Google on behalf of Android users in the other 49 states. That case is scheduled for trial in April 2026.