O Google has agreed to pay USD 93 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the US state of California over allegations that the company's location privacy practices misled consumers and violated consumer protection laws.
“A nOur investigation revealed that Google was telling its users one thing – that it would no longer track their location after they opted out – but doing the opposite and continuing to track its users' movements for its own commercial gain.,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta said.
The action is in response to revelations that the company continued to track users' locations, despite claiming otherwise, that such information would not be stored if the “Location History” setting was turned off.
The complaint filed by the California Government alleged that Google collected location data through other sources and misled users about their ability to opt out of personalized ads targeted to their location.
With Google earning more than USD 220 billion in revenue in 2022 from advertising alone, this is the latest in a series of financial agreements made by the company to resolve various lawsuits brought by different US states.
Last November, Google agreed to pay USD 391,5 million to resolve similar complaints filed by 40 US states. Then, in January 2023, it consented to shell out another USD 29,5 million to settle two separate lawsuits brought by the states of Indiana and Washington, D.C.
Later, in May 2023, the company settled with the state of Washington for USD 39,9 million for the same reasons. Currently facing a process of location tracking in the state of Texas.
The technology giant, which did not admit any wrongdoing, stated that they are based in “outdated product policies we changed years ago.” It also agreed to provide users with greater controls and transparency over location data.
The decision comes two weeks after Austrian privacy organization NOYB (short for None of Your Business) filed three complaints against Google-owned Fitbit for forcing new users of its app to consent to sensitive data transfers outside the Union. European Union that may not have the same level of data protection as the bloc.
“Contrary to legal requirements, users do not even have the possibility to withdraw their consent,” he added. “Instead, they need to completely delete their accounts to prevent illegal processing.”
