Google has agreed to pay $350 million to resolve a class action lawsuit with shareholders where the tech giant was accused of exposing users’ data in a data breach on its now-disbanded social media platform Google+. 

The lawsuit revolves around a data breach between 2015 and 2018, in which the personal data of more than 500,00 Google+ users got exposed. This included personal and confidential details from names, email addresses, birthdays, etc.

According to the company’s shareholders, the execs at Google were already aware of this data breach but did not want to expose it out of fear of public scrutiny. The court later discovered that Google did not disclose the breach promptly, which resulted in plummeting share prices that wiped billions of dollars off its market value.

Google Denies It Had A Part To Play In The Data Breach

After more than a year of mediation, a preliminary settlement was filed in the San Francisco federal court. When agreeing to the settlement, Google denied any wrongdoing and said it found no evidence for the data to be misused.

According to the settlement terms, individuals who purchased Google stocks between April 23rd, 2018, and April 30th, 2019, can apply for a share of the settlement. Jose Castaneda, a spokesperson for Google, stated:

“We regularly identify and fix software issues, disclose information about them, and take these issues seriously. This matter concerns a product that no longer exists, and we are pleased to have it resolved.”

This isn’t the first time this case has been brought to light. In 2020, a different judge dismissed the shareholder case, but it was revived in 2021 by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Court papers reveal that the shareholder’s lawyers can seek up to $66.5 million from the settlement for the fees.