Google has agreed to pay $350 million to settle a lawsuit filed by shareholders concerning a security flaw in the now-defunct social media platform "Google+." The preliminary settlement was submitted late Monday evening to a federal court in San Francisco after more than a year of mediation but requires the approval of U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson.
Google became aware in March 2018 of a software glitch that lasted three years and resulted in the exposure of personal data of Google+ users. The company concealed its knowledge of the issue for several months while publicly committing to data security. Shareholders stated that Google was concerned that disclosing the flaw would subject it to scrutiny from regulators and the public, similar to Facebook following the Cambridge Analytica incident, where user data was exploited in the 2016 U.S. elections.
The lawsuit claims that shares of Alphabet, Google's parent company, declined multiple times as news about the flaw emerged, leading to a market value loss estimated in the billions. Google denied any wrongdoing in agreeing to the settlement, stating it found no evidence of improper data use. Company spokesperson José Castaneda said, "We regularly fix software issues once identified, disclose information related to them, and take these issues seriously. This pertains to a product that no longer exists, and we're pleased that this 'bug' has been resolved."
