Google Play COPPA Settlement: $8.25M, File by Sept. 14
At a glance
- Status
- Re-verifying
- Defendant
- Google LLC / AdMob Google Inc.
- Settlement fund
- $8,250,000
- Claim deadline
- September 14, 2026
- No-proof cash option
- Yes — Pro rata cash payment to valid claimants from the Settlement Fund; no documentation required.
- Estimated payout
- Pro rata cash payment to valid claimants from the Settlement Fund; no documentation required.
- Administrator
- Kroll Settlement Administration LLC
- Official site
- www.coppaprivacyclassaction.com
- Court
- A.B., et al. v. Google LLC, et al., U.S. District Court, Northern District of California
- Case number
- 5:23-cv-03101
Last verified September 9, 2026
Key dates
| Milestone | Date | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Claim deadline | September 14, 2026(passed) | Last day to file for a payment |
| Opt-out (exclusion) deadline | August 4, 2026(passed) | Last day to leave the settlement and keep the right to sue |
| Objection deadline | August 4, 2026(passed) | Last day to object to the terms |
| Final approval hearing | September 24, 2026(passed) | When the judge decides whether to approve the settlement |
| Expected payout | Not yet scheduled | Payments are not sent until after final approval and any appeals |
Where to file
Google Play Children's Privacy (COPPA) Settlement is administered by Kroll Settlement Administration LLC. The only place to file is the official settlement website:
Verify on the official sitewww.coppaprivacyclassaction.com
Filing is free. No legitimate settlement charges a fee to file a claim.
You cannot file on RecordingLaw.com. We are an independent publisher, not the settlement administrator, and we are not affiliated with any court, agency, or defendant.
Google has agreed to pay $8.25 million to settle a lawsuit accusing it of collecting personal information from children under 13 through apps on the Google Play Store, without first getting a parent's permission as federal law requires. The claim deadline was September 14, 2026, and it has passed, so new claims can no longer be filed.
What the lawsuit alleges
The case, A.B., et al. v. Google LLC, et al., was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and is numbered 5:23-cv-03101. It accuses Google LLC and its AdMob advertising subsidiary of collecting, using, and disclosing personal information from children under 13 through apps distributed on Google Play, without first obtaining verifiable parental consent, in violation of the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, known as COPPA.
COPPA itself does not give individuals a right to sue; the FTC and state attorneys general enforce it. The families here pleaded state-law claims instead, including California's Unfair Competition Law, the California constitutional right to privacy, Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, and New York's General Business Law, several of them premised on an underlying COPPA violation. In June 2024 the court denied Google's motion to dismiss, finding those state claims were not preempted by COPPA.
COPPA is a federal law, enforced by the Federal Trade Commission, that applies to websites and apps directed at children and to any operator that knows it is collecting data from a user under 13. It requires those operators to get a parent's verifiable consent before collecting that child's personal information, such as a name, location, or identifier used to track a device across apps. The lawsuit claims Google and AdMob did not meet that bar for the apps and time period at issue.
Google and AdMob deny the allegations and deny any wrongdoing. Like most class action settlements, this one resolves the case without either side admitting fault, in exchange for ending years of litigation.
Where the case stands right now
The settlement received preliminary court approval on May 1, 2026. The deadline to exclude yourself from the class or object to its terms was August 4, 2026, and the claim deadline was September 14, 2026. Both have passed, and the claims period is closed.
The final approval hearing, where a judge decides whether to formally approve the deal, was set for September 24, 2026. No payments go out unless the court grants final approval, and any appeal can delay them further.
Who is covered by the settlement
The class is defined broadly. It covers anyone in the United States who was younger than 13 when they downloaded or used an app on the Google Play Store, at any point from April 1, 2015 through the present. There is no requirement that the app itself was marketed specifically to kids, and no list of specific apps to check against; the test is the user's age at the time, not which app it was.
Because the class window reaches back over a decade, it covers two different groups of people in practice. It covers families with a child who is currently under 13 and has used Google Play apps recently. It also covers people who were children on Google Play years ago and are adults now. Someone who was 11 years old in 2015 turns 22 in 2026, and would still potentially be a class member based on that earlier use.
A parent or guardian typically filed the claim on behalf of a child who is still a minor, and a former child who is now an adult could generally file for themselves. The claim window closed on September 14, 2026.
How much you can realistically expect
There is no fixed dollar amount attached to this settlement, and no separate tier that pays more for documented losses. Every valid claimant receives a pro rata cash payment from the $8.25 million fund, and the settlement does not require documentation beyond the claim itself.
Pro rata means the fund is divided among everyone who files a valid claim, after court-approved fees, costs, and administration expenses are deducted. The more people who file, the smaller each individual payment; the fewer who file, the larger each payment. Nobody, including RecordingLaw.com, can tell you your exact payment until the court rules on final approval and the administrator completes that math.
If you already filed a claim
The claim deadline was September 14, 2026, and new claims can no longer be filed. If you filed on time, there is nothing more to do right now; payments depend on the court granting final approval and resolving any appeals.
Questions about a claim you already submitted belong with the official settlement website and its administrator contact information. Anyone who contacts you asking for a fee or sensitive information to release a payment is not the official administrator.
Protecting a child's information beyond this settlement
This case is about tracking and data collection for advertising, not a breach that exposed Social Security numbers or financial account data, so it does not call for the same identity-theft response as a hacked database. Still, a few basic, free protections are worth knowing about if your child uses apps on Google Play.
A credit freeze blocks anyone from opening new credit in your child's name. Parents and guardians of children under 16 can request one for free at all three credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. It is one of the few identity-theft protections built specifically for minors, whose Social Security numbers are valuable to fraudsters precisely because nobody checks a child's credit for years.
If you ever suspect actual misuse of your child's information, whether connected to this case or something else entirely, IdentityTheft.gov is the federal government's free recovery site, not a paid monitoring service.
We are tracking this case
If the court denies final approval at the September 24, 2026 hearing, or the payout picture becomes clearer afterward, we will update this page and our data breach settlement tracker. For background on the broader rules governing how companies handle personal data, see our guide to data privacy laws. The claim deadline of September 14, 2026 has passed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Google Play Children's Privacy (COPPA) Settlement?
It is an $8.25 million settlement resolving A.B., et al. v. Google LLC, et al., in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging Google and its AdMob subsidiary collected personal information from children under 13 through Google Play apps without verifiable parental consent, violating COPPA. Google and AdMob deny wrongdoing, and the claim deadline of September 14, 2026 has passed.
What is COPPA?
COPPA, the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, is a federal law enforced by the Federal Trade Commission. It requires operators of child-directed websites and apps, or any operator that knows it is collecting data from a child under 13, to get a parent's verifiable consent before collecting that child's personal information.
Who was eligible to file a claim?
The class covered people who were younger than 13 when they downloaded or used any app on the Google Play Store at any point from April 1, 2015 to the present. No specific app needed to be on a list. The claim deadline was September 14, 2026, and it has passed.
Did the parent file, or the child?
A parent or guardian typically filed on behalf of a child who is still a minor, and a former child who is now an adult could generally file for themselves. The claim window closed on September 14, 2026.
How much money will I actually get?
There is no fixed amount. Every valid claimant receives a pro rata share of the $8.25 million fund with no documentation required, so your payment depends on how many people filed a valid claim by the September 14, 2026 deadline, and on the court granting final approval.
What proof did a claim require?
The settlement did not require documentation of a specific loss. Confirming eligibility, that you or your child was under 13 and used a Google Play app during the covered window, was the core requirement. The claim deadline of September 14, 2026 has passed.
Can I still file a claim?
No. The claim deadline was September 14, 2026, and it has passed. The final approval hearing was set for September 24, 2026; payments to people who filed on time depend on the court granting final approval.
Can I still opt out or object to the settlement?
No. The deadline to exclude yourself from the class or to object to its terms was August 4, 2026, and it has passed. Opting out would have kept your right to sue Google separately while giving up any payment from this fund; objecting would have kept you in the class while telling the court its terms are unfair. The September 14, 2026 claim deadline has also passed.
What should I do to protect my child's information beyond filing a claim?
This case involves tracking and ad-related data collection, not a breach exposing Social Security or financial account numbers, but a free credit freeze at Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion is still available to parents of children under 16 and is one of the strongest protections against a minor's identity being misused later. If you suspect actual misuse, IdentityTheft.gov is the federal government's free recovery resource.
How to tell a settlement notice is real
Check the case name, case number, and court against the official settlement site. Go to that site directly instead of clicking a link in an email or text. Nobody legitimate will call, text, or email out of the blue asking for your Social Security number, bank account, or card details, and nobody will charge you to file. Report anyone who does at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Already have a notice with a link or sender address? Paste it into our settlement notice checker to compare it with the official claim sites we track.
Informational only. Not legal, tax, or financial advice, and not affiliated with any settlement.
RecordingLaw.com is an independent legal-information publisher. We are not a law firm, not a settlement administrator, and not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of any court, government agency, defendant, or claims administrator described on this page. Reading this page does not create an attorney-client relationship.
We do not process claims and we never collect your claim information. You cannot file a claim on RecordingLaw.com. To file, opt out, object, or check your status, use only the official settlement administrator identified above. We link to it for your convenience.
Filing a legitimate claim is free. No legitimate settlement or administrator will charge you a fee to file, or ask for your Social Security number, bank, or card details by unsolicited call, text, or email. If someone does, it is likely a scam. Report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
Deadlines, amounts, and approval status change and are set by the court. We verify against the official administrator and court records, but confirm the current details on the official site before acting. Nothing here guarantees eligibility, a payment, or any amount. Settlement payments may be taxable. See IRS Publication 4345. and consult a tax professional. For advice about your specific situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state. Affiliate disclosure.
Updates
Updated to reflect that the September 14, 2026 claim deadline has passed and to note the state-law claims the families pleaded alongside COPPA.
Updated settlement status and dates: Title and meta left unchanged: the September 14, 2026 claim window is still open and every date was re-verified today against the official Important Dates page
The Law Behind This Article
This article rests on the statutory provisions below, held in our own legal record and retrieved from the official source. Tap a section to read the operative text.
United States Code Title 15
§ 6502Regulation of unfair and deceptive acts and practices in connection with collection and use of personal information from and about children on the InternetIn forcecited in 3 of our articles
It is unlawful for an operator of a website or online service directed to children, or any operator that has actual knowledge that it is collecting personal information from a child, to collect personal information from a child in a manner that violates the regulations prescribed under subsection (b). Notwithstanding paragraph (1), neither an operator of such a website or online service nor the operator’s agent shall be held to be liable under any Federal or State law for any disclosure made in good faith and following reasonable procedures in responding to a request for disclosure of personal information under subsection (b)(1)(B)(iii) to the parent of a child.
Official text (excerpt) · last checked 2026-09-16 · Read the full text in our law library · Verify at uscode.house.gov
Cited in 19 court opinions in our collectionLatest citing opinion in our collection: 2026
In the courts (editorial summary, independently checked):Courts reading 15 U.S.C. 6502 have focused on its preemption clause. Cara Jones v. Google LLC (2023) held COPPA does not bar state-law claims parallel to, or forbidding the same conduct as, COPPA. In Re Nickelodeon Consumer Privacy Litigation (2016) held a state intrusion claim rested on duties compatible with COPPA and was not preempted.
Opinions citing this section in our collection:
- Cara Jones v. Google LLC (Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit 2023)“…eatment of those activities or actions under this section.” 15 U.S.C. § 6502(d). The panel held that state laws that…”
- In Re Nickelodeon Consumer Privacy Litigation (Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit 2016, 827 F.3d 262)✓Children alleged Viacom promised parents it collected no personal information on its kids' sites while letting Google track them; the Third Circuit held the statute's preemption clause did not bar their state intrusion upon seclusion claim, because it says nothing about deceit.
- Federal Trade Commission v. Wyndham Worldwide Corp. (Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit 2015, 799 F.3d 236)“…112 Stat. 2681, 2681-730–732 (1998) (codified as amended at 15 U.S.C. § 6502).6 Wyndham contends these “tailored gra…”
Identified automatically from the court opinions citing this section — not a ranking of which case controls.
Also relied on in: Children's Online Privacy Laws by State (2026), COPPA Compliance Guide: Children's Online Privacy Protection (2026)
Search our full record of US law — 2.1 million sections, every state + federal →
Sources and References
- A.B., et al. v. Google LLC, et al., Official Settlement Website(coppaprivacyclassaction.com)
- Frequently Asked Questions, A.B. v. Google LLC Settlement (official)(coppaprivacyclassaction.com)
- U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California (Case No. 5:23-cv-03101)(cand.uscourts.gov).gov
- Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule (COPPA), Federal Trade Commission(ftc.gov).gov
- Children's Privacy, Federal Trade Commission(ftc.gov).gov
- How To Protect Your Child From Identity Theft, Federal Trade Commission(consumer.ftc.gov).gov
- IdentityTheft.gov, Federal Trade Commission(identitytheft.gov).gov
- A.B. v. Google LLC, No. 5:23-cv-03101 (N.D. Cal.), court docket including the Order Denying Motion to Dismiss (June 18, 2024) and Order Granting Preliminary Approval (May 1, 2026)(courtlistener.com)
- 15 U.S.C. § 6502, Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, regulation of collection of personal information from children(govinfo.gov)