Court decision · 20 August 2024
Calhoun v Google LLC
113 F.4th 1141 (9th Cir. 2024) · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
What it means for your code
Your in-product copy is the disclosure that counts. If the settings screen implies data stays local, the privacy policy will not rescue you.
What happened
Users who had not switched on browser sync alleged their browsing data was still collected, and the company pointed to its general privacy disclosures as consent.
What was decided
Consent is measured by what a reasonable user would have understood from the disclosures shown to them, not by what a careful reading of every linked policy could support. Conflicting statements across documents defeat summary judgment.
The legal test applied
- Consent is measured by what a reasonable user would understand from the disclosures actually presented
- Disclosures scattered across policies do not cure a misleading in-product statement
- Conflicting representations create a factual dispute unsuitable for summary judgment
What would have changed the outcome
- A settings screen that plainly states what is collected, at the moment of choice, supports consent
Summary and analysis by Lawpatch, checked by an editor against the source. Risk analysis, not legal advice; the law may have moved on since this decision.