Have you owned an Android device in the last nine years? If so, Google may owe you up to $100 later this year.
This is due to a preliminary settlement of $135 million (without any acknowledgment of guilt) in a class-action lawsuit known as Taylor v. Google LLC, according to CNET. The lawsuit claimed that Google utilized Android users’ paid mobile data to send information to Google without obtaining their consent. Now, individuals whose data may have been improperly handled can register for payments on the official settlement site.
The settlement could potentially cover up to 100 million Android users in the United States. If you believe you may be eligible, check the email linked to your Android mobile account for the settlement announcement.
Unsure of your eligibility? Here are the required criteria:
1. You must be a real person residing in the United States
2. You must have used an Android phone with cellular data at some point between Nov. 12, 2017, and now
3. You cannot be a participant in Csupo v. Google LLC, a separate class-action lawsuit aimed specifically at Californians
If you satisfy these conditions (and many probably do), you can provide your payment details on the settlement site. A concluding hearing is set for June 23 to decide whether these payments will be distributed, so you will know by then if you’re receiving any compensation. And no, we can’t specify the exact amount that each eligible user will receive, although payments are capped at $100. That doesn’t guarantee that anyone will actually receive $100, though.
While Google has not admitted any wrongdoing in this matter, it has consented to distribute the settlement and will revise its Google Play terms of service concerning passive data transfers using cellular data. Ultimately, what’s significant here is that you might receive a little cash for something you didn’t even realize occurred years ago.