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Main article: Social media (global market)

2024: $350 million compensation for violation of privacy of social network users

Google will pay compensation for privacy violations data on the Google + social network. This was announced on February 12, 2024 by the press service of the deputy. State Duma of the Russian Federation Anton Nemkin

A class action lawsuit against the IT company was filed in federal court in San Francisco over a breach of privacy of user data on the social network Google +. At the same time, the social network itself was closed back in 2019.

The claim is related to the 2018 software failure, as a result of which personal data of users were disclosed. The corporation agreed to pay $350 million in compensation to settle the claim. At the same time, Google denies the very fact of the violation, arguing that no evidence of the violations was previously provided.

Therefore, such claims have not looked unexpected for a long time. For example, in 2020, the company faced a similar problem - the corporation was accused of secretly spying on millions of users who were originally in incognito mode. Google also agreed to satisfy the $5 billion lawsuit. The corporation is interested in preserving its reputation, so it is ready to go to amicable agreements, but it is apparently not going to solve the problem globally, "the deputy emphasized.

The IT giant wanted to strengthen its position in the social media segment, but this could not be achieved. Already at the first stages of launch, the project showed rather weak indicators. Therefore, the closure of the social network did not surprise anyone, he said.

The failure allowed third-party developers to access users' personal data. As a result of the discovery of the bug, the company even had to postpone the closure of the network. But, most importantly, Google deliberately tried to hide the fact of the mistake as such, the deputy emphasized.

If such facts are hidden, the company, at least, does not leave the opportunity for users to reduce the risks of leaks by changing passwords, he said.

According to the deputy, privacy on the Internet is rapidly declining.

2018

Data breach of 52.5m users and accelerated closure of Google +

On December 10, 2018, Google announced a data breach of 52.5 million users of the Google + social network. Because of this incident, the company decided to close the service four months earlier than planned.

According to the official Google blog, the leak was caused by a flaw in the updated software, which was presented in November 2018. The vulnerability allowed third-party applications to request names, email address, occupation, and user age. The developers were able to fix the error only six days after it was discovered.

Google admitted to data leakage of 52 million users and accelerated the closure of the social network Google +

At the same time, the applications did not receive financial data, passport numbers, passwords and other information that attackers could use for selfish purposes. The request could be made even if the user hid his profile from public access. 

Google also emphasizes that they did not find evidence that someone used the specified data in some way.

After it became known about the massive leak of user data, the Google + service decided to close by April 2019, while it was originally said about August. In addition, Google decided to speed up the closure of the Google + API and do so before February 2019. Another reason why the social network is closed, the company called the weak popularity of the project.

By December 2018, Google continues to find out the detailed causes of the leak and has already begun to notify those whom it may have affected.^[1]

Although we understand the consequences that may come for developers, we want to make sure that our users are safe, "said David Thacker, vice president of product marketing at Google G Suite.

On December 11, 2018, Google chief Sundar Pichai will address a hearing before the House of Representatives Legal Committee of the United States Congress. One of the topics will be the security of personal data of Google users.

Service closure after mass leak

On October 8, 2018, Google officially announced the closure of the Google + social network due to low popularity and leaks.

The consumer version of Google + will completely stop working by August 2019. The service will exist only as a platform for corporate communication. The company linked its decision with the weak demand for the project.

Google + social network closes after data leakage of 500 thousand users

The study showed significant difficulties in developing and maintaining Google + at the level that consumers expect. Taking into account these difficulties, as well as taking into account the low activity of the user version of the social network, we decided to close the user version of Google +, Google said in a statement.

The company added that the service was very unpopular - 90% of visitors spent no more than five seconds on Google +.

In addition, Google reported a software flaw that caused Google + to give third-party developers access to sensitive user data that was not marked as "public." The data of more than 500 thousand users were under threat.

The error was present for more than two years. It was not possible to solve the problem with the leak, and in addition, Google did not report anything about it, fearing criticism and discontent of users and an investigation by regulators.

Shortly before the search engine publicly announced the imminent closure of Google +, The Wall Street Journal reported. According to the publication, if the company had not hidden the mistake for several months and admitted back in the spring of 2018, it would have attracted increased attention from regulators and the public^[2]

Google + users will be given time to transfer data to other platforms - the transition period will be ten months. Google will continue to create features for the social network that are interesting to companies.

2012: Google + ranks second most popular in the world

Launched in June 2011, the social network Google + ranked second in popularity after Facebook. In addition to these two networks, the list includes many social platforms, including Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, Tumblr and others. In Q4 2012, according to Trendstream, Google + 's monthly active audience reached 343 million active users, compared to Facebook's 693 million.

As of the end of 2012, about 25% of people who go online used the Google + social network. Facebook's share, in turn, amounted to over 50% of the Internet audience. In third place is the YouTube video exchange service, and in fourth place is Twitter. Business social network LinkedIn ranked tenth. The social network VKontakte is located on the twentieth, and Odnoklassniki is in twenty-third place.

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