In a statement, the group, which is led by Richard Lloyd, a former director of the consumer group Which? and had sought damages of as much as £3.2 billion (US$4.3 billion), said that the presiding judge, Justice Warby, had found that Google's actions were arguably "wrong and a breach of duty".

Lloyd claims that Google collected data about race, physical and mental heath, political leanings, sexuality, social class, financial, shopping habits and location and used this to earn as much as US$80 billion fro targeted advertising in 2016.

The group's statement said its legal team would argue that the judgment was wrong to state that the claimants had not suffered damage within the meaning of the Data Protection Act, and that the class had not all suffered in the same way.

In blocking the case in October, Justice Warby had said the facts outlined by Lloyd's lawyers did not support the claim that either he or any of the others cited in the suit had suffered damage as defined in the Act.

This meant that the others cited in the claim did not have the same interest in the case as Lloyd, Mr Justice Warby said, adding that he was thus not permitting the action to continue.

Said Lloyd: "Google’s business model is based on using personal data to target adverts to consumers and they must ask permission before using this data. The court accepted that people did not give Google permission to use their data in this case, yet slammed the door shut on holding Google to account.

"By appealing this decision, we want to give affected consumers the opportunity to get the compensation they are owed and show that collective actions offer a clear route to justice for data protection claims.”