On Thursday, Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in Oakland, California, paused a trial scheduled for February 5, 2024, in a class-action lawsuit against Google, after lawyers for the company and consumers said they had reached a preliminary settlement.

The lawsuit seeks at least $5 billion in damages. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed, but attorneys said they agreed to binding terms through mediation and expect to present a formal resolution for court approval by Feb. 24, 2024.

The plaintiffs allege that Google's cookie analytics allows it to track user activity even when the Chrome browser is set to "Incognito" mode and other browsers are in "private" browsing mode.

In August, Judge Rogers denied Google's bid to dismiss the lawsuit.

She said it was still an open question whether Google had made a legally binding promise not to collect users’ data when they browsed the web in private mode. The judge cited Google’s privacy policy and other company statements that suggested limits on the information it could collect.

Filed in 2020, the lawsuit covers “millions” of Google users since June 1, 2016, and seeks at least $5,000 in damages per user for violations of federal wiretapping laws and California privacy laws.

Mai Anh (according to Reuters)