Alphabet to pay shareholders $350M over Google+ privacy lapses

Google HQ

Alphabet, the parent company of technology giant Google, agreed to pay $350 million in a preliminary settlement with shareholders over alleged data privacy violations and materially false and misleading statements linked to now-defunct social media site Google+.

The proposed deal, filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, resolves claims by Alphabet shareholders that a glitch in Google+ allowed more 400 third-party companies to access the personal information of nearly half a million users.

The information exposed included full names, email addresses, birth dates, gender, profile photos, places lived, occupation, and relationship status, according to the complaint.

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