Google Faces Class Action Lawsuit Over Allegations of User Surveillance via Gemini

Google is currently facing a class action lawsuit in California, following allegations that its AI assistant, Gemini, was used to monitor user communications within Gmail, Chat, and Meet without their knowledge or consent.

The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday evening in federal court in San Jose, claims that Alphabet's subsidiary activated the Gemini tool secretly last October across all its applications, allowing it to access private user data, including email content and attachments.

While Google provides an option to disable Gemini, the lawsuit states that accessing the necessary privacy settings to do so is complex and challenging. The documents suggest that keeping the tool active gives Google "full access to users' private communication history and the ability to exploit it."

The lawsuit references California's 1967 Privacy Protection Act, which prohibits the secret listening to or recording of communications without the consent of all parties involved.

As of now, Google has not issued an official response to the allegations, and the case is expected to spark widespread discussion regarding tech companies' practices related to artificial intelligence and access to personal data.