Google faces lawsuit for tracking private user data in incognito mode

Google noted that it will dispute the claims and said that “incognito does not mean invisible” and that it informs users beforehand about the tracking activity that may take place in incognito mode.

Google, and its parent company Alphabet, may have to pay $5 billion as compensation in a class-action lawsuit in the US following the complaint from three Google users about the tech giant tracking user data in incognito mode. The complaint, which was filed last June, noted that Google carries out a pervasive data tracking business. It further noted that Google collects browsing history and other web activity data even after enabling the incognito private browsing mode on Google Chrome. The lawsuit alleged that Google uses different systems, including Google Analytics, Google Ad Manager, website plug-ins, and other applications, including the mobile apps, to track users, according to Cnet. "Google knows who your friends are, what your hobbies are, what you like to eat, what movies you watch, where and when you like to shop, what your favorite vacation destinations are, what your favorite color is, and even the most intimate and potentially embarrassing things you browse on the internet -- regardless of whether you follow Google’s advice to keep your activities ‘private,’" the complaint notes,