Google to erase browsing data of millions of users it collected in Incognito mode

Google has agreed to erase the private browsing history of millions of users who utilized Incognito mode in its Chrome web browser, as part of a settlement in a federal court case regarding the company's undisclosed tracking of web activity. The lawsuit, filed in 2020, could have resulted in Google paying $5 billion in damages. Instead, the company will destroy or de-identify “billions of data points” it improperly collected, and will update its data collection disclosures.

Additionally, Google will maintain a setting that blocks Chrome’s third-party cookies by default for the next five years. The settlement in Brown v. Google will also require more transparency from the company about its data collection practices in Incognito mode and will impose restrictions on future data collection.

If a California federal judge approves the settlement, it could affect 136 million Google users. Google had already begun preparing an update to the Incognito mode disclaimer in Chrome to explicitly state that browsing data may still be visible to Google, and is adding a toggle to block third-party cookies.

However, the effectiveness of destroying the improperly collected data remains uncertain. Given that the lawsuit covers information dating back to 2016, it is plausible that Google has already sold much of this data to third parties or integrated it into other products not included in the settlement.