Google: UFC-Que Choisir loses its €27 billion lawsuit and must pay €10,000 to the company

As we learn from journalist Marc Rees of L'Informedthe UFC-Que Choisir lost its legal battle against Google, from whom the association claimed 27 billion dollars. The procedure was launched in June 2019 and was based on the new European personal data law in force since May 2018.

27 billion euros claimed by the association

The UFC-Que Choisir targeted the data collection practiced by Google, describing the practice as illegal. The consumer defense association demanded €1,000 in compensation for each of the 27 million French users of an Android device who have a Gmail account.

However, the context was favorable to the association. Google had already been sanctioned, in January 2019, by the CNIL (National Commission for Information Technology and Liberties). The fine was 50 million euros for violations of the European framework. UFC-Que Choisir also obtained a first legal victory: the Cupertino company was ordered to pay €30,000 in damages for unfair clauses in its confidentiality rules.

Among its arguments, the consumer defense association denounced the lack of transparency of Google contracts. The company was accused of dispersing information in a way “fragmented” And “insufficiently clear”.

UFC-Que Choisir believed that users were not able to grasp the extent of the collection of private data. The demands included compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) with €100,000 per day late. But the consumer defense association also called for the restriction of geolocation to relevant services and an information campaign among users.

UFC-Que Choisir presented four witness cases to support its request. The first is a user who challenged the requirement to create a Google account to use an Android device. The second complained about commercial harassment of requests for opinions on the places visited. The third claimed that Google continued to track its location despite disabling the feature. As for the last, he denounced the monitoring of his movements without his knowledge over several years.

UFC-Que Choisir must pay €10,000 to Google

However, the court rejected all requests, finding that the UFC-Que Choisir group action is inadmissible. The magistrates mention flaws in the argument. One of the plaintiffs could not prove that he was the owner of the claimed Gmail address and as for the other three, the court considered that they did not demonstrate Google's operating mode, nor the existence of harm or violation of the GDPR.

The judges also emphasized that commercial solicitations on the Internet are not all attributable to Google and sometimes come from the policies of the sites consulted.

Worse still for UFC-Que Choisir: the consumer defense association is ordered to pay €10,000 to Google LLC and Google Ireland Limited for legal costs. Please note, however, that the Mountain View firm was asking for an amount ten times higher.

Now, UFC-Que Choisir plans to appeal. Faced with this decision, the Google spokesperson maintains his position and claims to apply “high standards of transparency and consent”. The Mountain View firm ensures that its rules and features are evolving to strengthen the protection of the privacy of its users.