The UK high court has blocked a consumer-led mass legal action against Google over claims that it harvested personal data from more than four million iPhone users.

The consumer campaign group Google You Owe Us, led by the former Which? director Richard Lloyd, had been hoping to win at least £1 billion in compensation over the claims.

Today justice Warby, sitting in London, announced his decision, the Press Association reported.

The tech giant had faced claims that it collected personal data, including political views, racial or ethnic origin, health information on users of Apple devices without their permission.

Last week it was reported that social media giant Facebook could be facing a potential fine of up to £1.25billion from Ireland's data protection office after the company confirmed that 50 million user accounts had been left exposed by a cyber attack.

In July, Google was fined a record €4.3billion by the European Commission over competition issues relating to its Android operating system. The company said it planned to appeal the fine.

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