Google owes their users some compensation money due to the Google+ incident that leaked more than 50 million personal data. Unfortunately, the payout is only $2.15!
Since 2018, Goggle has been dealing with a class action lawsuit for exposing private user data from their now-deleted social network, Google Plus.
Express UK reported that Google released a $7.5 million payment to settle the case. Users affected by the privacy violation are supposed to receive part of this money.
Google Plus Lawsuit
Arstechnica reported the details of the Google Plus data litigation. The class-action lawsuit was first filed in October 2018. Charges listed included a "lax approach to data security for the bugs." The complaint also wrote, "Worse, after discovery of this vulnerability in the Google+ platform, Defendants kept silent for at least seven months, making a calculated decision not to inform users that their Personal Information was compromised."
To emphasize, the Google+ platform has already experienced software bugs since 2015. The problem persisted until 2018. Google resolved to fix the issue by completely shutting down its platform. Unfortunately, in the duration between those years, 52 million Google Plus user data were leaked. Information accessed includes:
- Name
- Birthday
- Gender
- Email address
- Relationship status
- Occupation
- List of the places you've lived
A total of 1,720,029 affected users filled out forms to join the class action lawsuit.
Google Plus Lawsuit Settlement Pays $2.15 Each
From the $7.5 million paid by Google, a big chunk of cash wouldreportedly be used to pay legal fees. The reports did not elaborate, but based on computation, legal and administrative fees are calculated to cost $3.8 million.
The 1,720,029 users who filed their forms are said to be getting a payout of $2.15, which accounts for $3.7 million. This means that more than half of the settlement would not go to the victims.
For reference, details of the lawsuit are found on this website. It concluded a payout of $12 by basing on the 450,000 people initially registered in the class action lawsuit. As the number of Google Plus victims rose, the budget was unfortunately cut short.
Google payout would be received via PayPal or a digital check. Recipients should receive a message together with the "Google Plus Profile Litigation" payment of $2.15.
The message on the linked image wrote, "This is your settlement payment as a Class Member in the Google Plus Profile Litigation, held in the United States District California San Jose Division." While the amount is disappointing, Google is working to comply with its penalties.
Users who joined the class-action lawsuit should immediately log in to their PayPal accounts to check if the money has been received. No time frame was provided for the delivery of this money. However, users should expect the deposits to come before the year ends.
It is important to take note that information posted online could easily be stolen at any time. Be responsible for your own information and abstain from posting any personal information online whenever possible.
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