Google News bug on Android using huge amount of background data

In one of the cases, Google News apparently consumed 7.65GB background data overnight, while another user reported the app used 1.32GB data. “I’d like to add my same experience to this list. 1.6 gb of background data on my cell data in less than an hour on September 12th. I’ve disabled background data but would like to better understand what all could be using background data. What functionality does ‘background data’ provide?” said another user.

“Thanks so much for reporting this issue to us–we understand the importance of getting it resolved as soon as possible. The relevant teams are currently investigating and working towards a fix, and we’ll be posting updates directly to this thread. We may also reach out if there is additional troubleshooting info that would be helpful in our investigation. Many thanks for your patience in the meantime,” the Google News Community Manager wrote on the forum.

Meanwhile, users are speculating what the problem might be as some feel this might be an Android issue and not Google News issue. Some users have also suggested to turn off “Allow background data usage” but that can not be a long-term solution, while a few have deleted the app altogether. Given Google is aware of the issue, we expect it to roll out a fix soon.