A lawsuit is pending in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (the “Court”) against Google LLC and Alphabet Inc. (“Google” or “Defendants”).

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit allege that Google Assistant can activate and record communications even when a user does not intentionally trigger Google Assistant with a hot word, like “Okay Google,” or manually activate Google Assistant on their device. Plaintiffs refer to such instances as “False Accepts” and allege that Google wrongfully collects, uses, and discloses user audio recordings from False Accepts to improve the speech recognition abilities of Google Assistant. Plaintiffs allege Google’s conduct constitutes a breach of the privacy assurances that Google makes to users in its Privacy Policy and an unlawful practice under California’s Unfair Competition Law (“UCL”) (collectively, the “Class Claims”). Google denies all of Plaintiffs’ allegations. The Court has not made any determination as to who is right or whether Google did anything wrong.

The Class certified by the Court (hereinafter referred to as the “Class”) includes the following:

All Users in the United States who purchased a Google-Made Device, where:

• “Users” are individuals whose Gmail accounts were associated with at least one Google Assistant Enabled Device during the class period from May 18, 2016 to December 16, 2022 (“Class Period”);

• “Google Assistant Enabled Devices” are devices that come with Google Assistant pre-installed; and

• “Google-Made Devices” are Google Assistant Enabled Devices manufactured and sold by Google, including Google’s Pixel Smartphones; Smart Home Speakers (Google Home, Google Home Mini, Google Home Max, Nest Audio, Nest Mini); Smart Displays (Google Home Hub, Nest Hub, Nest Hub Max); Laptops and Tablets (Pixelbook, Pixelbook Go, Pixel Slate); Digital Media Players (Chromecast with Google TV); and Wireless Earphones (Pixel Buds, Pixel Buds A Series, Pixel Buds Pro).

There is no money available now, and no guarantee there will be.

Your legal rights may be affected, and your options are explained below. You have a choice to make now. Although you may have received a notice, you might not be a member of the Class. As described above, only purchasers of certain devices manufactured by Google, whose Gmail accounts were associated with that device during a certain time period, are Class Members.

Deadline to Exclude Yourself: September 9, 2024