‘Groundbreaking’ Settlement Would Give Users Unprecedented Control Over Data Shared in Google Ad Auctions
DiCello Levitt and co-counsel have secured a landmark proposed settlement in In re Google RTB Consumer Privacy Litigation, a nationwide class action that challenged Google’s data sharing practices in its real-time bidding (RTB) advertising system. Read the full brief here.
Under the agreement, if approved by the Court, Google will create a new user control allowing account holders to limit the information Google shares about them in Google’s RTB environment. Google also will make substantial changes to its disclosures to provide information about RTB and the new RTB control, including emailing all active individual U.S. account holders with the information. The control will work regardless of whether the account holder is signed in or signed out of a Google account and works for websites as well as apps.
Early media reports note the “groundbreaking” settlement could cause a “seismic shift” to the digital advertising landscape, and “the changes signal an acceleration toward privacy-first marketing strategies.” The minimum value of the settlement relief is estimated to be between $1.4 and $2.9 billion, and the maximum value to be between $18.3 and $21.6 billion.
“This outcome will empower hundreds of millions of users to limit the personal information that is shared in Google’s real-time bidding auctions,” said DiCello Levitt Partner David Straite, CIPP/US, who played a lead role in the case, and was a member of the settlement mediation team. “The result is a major win for data privacy and sets a new standard in how companies go about sharing information with advertisers.”
Straite served on the six-person Executive Committee for this litigation, along with partners from Pritzker Levine LLP (lead), Bleichmar Fonti & Auld LLP, Cotchett Pitre & McCarthy LLP, Simmons Hanly Conroy LLP, and Bottini & Bottini Inc. The DiCello Levitt team also included James Ulwick and Amy Keller. A majority of the Lead Plaintiffs are DiCello Levitt clients, and we are grateful for their unwavering commitment to the case.
DiCello Levitt’s Privacy, Technology, and Cybersecurity Practice Group has led some of the largest data breach, privacy, and technology settlements in the United States, winning significant motions and creating new legal theories and damages models that have been cited in numerous cases across the country. The team focuses on information security and data breach cases, as well as data misuse and privacy violations, and has developed legal precedent in both state and federal courts.
About DiCello Levitt
At DiCello Levitt, we’re dedicated to achieving justice for our clients through class action, environmental, mass tort, securities, financial services, antitrust, business-to-business, public client, whistleblower, personal injury, and civil and human rights litigation. Our lawyers are highly respected for their ability to litigate and win cases—whether by trial, settlement, or otherwise—for people who have suffered harm, global corporations that have sustained significant economic losses, and public clients seeking to protect their citizens’ rights and interests. Every day, we put our reputations—and our capital—on the line for our clients.
DiCello Levitt has achieved top recognition as Plaintiffs Firm of the Year and Trial Innovation Firm of the Year by the National Law Journal, in addition to its top-tier Chambers and Benchmark ratings. For more information about the firm, including recent trial victories and case resolutions, please visit www.dicellolevitt.com.
