Another Dutch class action against Google for massively collecting Android users' data

The Dutch foundation Massaschade & Consument has launched a class action against Google for spying on Android users and violating their privacy on a large scale. The foundation commissioned a study that showed that Google collects all kinds of data from Android devices without the users’ knowledge or consent. Google called the claim “speculative and opportunistic,” the Financieele Dagblad reported.

The foundation’s researchers purchased several Android devices between 2022 and 2024. They then captured the outgoing traffic from those devices on a Dutch server and decrypted and analyzed the data. According to the foundation, Google installed a special app on Android devices - Google Play Services - which tracks all other app use. Users don’t see Google Play Services on their phones and can’t uninstall the app.

According to the foundation, Google uses this app to collect all kinds of data from Android users, ranging from their orders to their favorite sushi place to details about their menstrual cycle through a tracking app. Google also knows when Android users make a call and how long they talk to whom and can track Andriod users’ location through GPS and WiFi.

Google also uses several identifiers to link the collected data to an individual smartphone and its user. All of this happens even with the strictest privacy settings on the phone.

“The data we produce every day with our smartphone use provides a razor-sharp picture of our preferences and how we spend our time,” says Lucia Melcherts, chairman of the foundation. With the lawsuit, the foundation wants to force Google to make fundamental changes to its data collection policy and allow Android users to opt out of any form of data collection. The foundation is also working on a damage claim. There are 9 million Android users in the Netherlands.

Google denies the allegations. “Like some other mass claims we have recently seen in the Netherlands, this lawsuit is speculative and opportunistic,” a Google spokesperson told FD. “It paints a misleading picture of how Androud and our other systems work.”