At the end of 2023, Google agreed Google settles $5B privacy lawsuit alleging it spied on ‘incognito’ Chrome users / Business Insider settle a class action lawsuit demanding to pay $5 billion to Chrome users. This lawsuit was filed back in 2020, when users and human rights activists realized that Google was tricking users into believing in the security of incognito mode in Chrome.
In short: the description of the function is designed in such a way that users may mistakenly think that the browser will not track their Internet activity. In fact, the browsing history and other data continued to be sent to Google servers and could be used by third-party sites with Google Analytics and Google Ad Manager tools.
To avoid other similar lawsuits, Google changes the description of the incognito mode — this was noticed Google updates Chrome Incognito disclaimer amid $5 billion lawsuit settlement / MSPowerUser Chrome Canary users for developers. Now the warning looks like this:
Your actions in incognito mode will not be available to other users of this device. This will not change the collection of data by the sites you visit and the services they use, including Google. Bookmarks, downloaded files, and objects from the reading list will be saved.
The second offer is an addition that Google is trying to protect itself with. The new description clarifies the principle of operation of the mode: you can go to the 18+ website so that your family does not find out about it. But Google and advertisers will find out about it anyway.
The description of incognito mode in the stable version of the browser will probably change with the next Chrome update.
