Some owners of Google's newer Home Speaker are reporting that their devices are silently downloading hundreds of gigabytes of data. The issue appears to stem from failed attempts to install a firmware update, with one Reddit user measuring more than 200GB of traffic in a single day. Google has acknowledged the problem and told 9to5Google that a fix is already rolling out.
According to reports collected by 9to5Google and Reddit, the bug is mostly tied to the new Google Home Speaker model, though the company has not confirmed how widespread it is. A comparison cited by 9to5Google shows an affected device using 132GB in a month, while an unaffected unit in another household used just 2GB. The Verge's Tom Warren said his own speaker was not affected.
For households with metered internet plans, the glitch could quickly exhaust monthly data allowances without any obvious warning. Google's statement suggests a remedy is on the way, but users may need to monitor their network traffic until the update fully deploys.