Google has agreed to pay a record $391.5 million to 40 US states to settle the lawsuit brought against the company over its location tracking practices.
The settlement was announced by a coalition of state prosecutors on Monday.
The case surrounded allegations that Google tracked people’s location through their devices (both iPhone and Android) even after the location tracking feature was disabled across the search giant’s services.
“Right now, consumers are beholden to Google’s promise that Big Tech knows what’s best for users’ data,” said Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro. “Google’s impact on the lives of everyday Americans is pervasive — they have a responsibility to consumers to ensure that the data they collect is only obtained with express consent from the user.”
The investigation into Google’s questionable tracking practices began following a 2018 report published by Associated Press, which revealed Google kept tracking people’s location data regardless of privacy settings. The lawsuit was headed by Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum along with Nebraska’s attorney general, and is the largest multi-state settlement concerning privacy in the US history.
“For years Google has prioritized profit over their users’ privacy,” said Rosenblum. “They have been crafty and deceptive. Consumers thought they had turned off their location tracking features on Google, but the company continued to secretly record their movements and use that information for advertisers.”
The settlement is being hailed as a historic win for users.
“This $391.5m settlement is a historic win for consumers in an era of increasing reliance on technology,” said Connecticut Attorney General William Tong. “Location data is among the most sensitive and valuable personal information Google collects, and there are so many reasons why a consumer may opt-out of tracking.”
According to the authorities, Google violated consumer protection laws and misled users about recording their movements without their knowledge from 2014 to 2019. The silently harvested location data was then offered to digital marketers to sell personalised advertisements. Google’s ad business reportedly generated more than $200 billion in 2021.
In response to the settlement, Google said the investigation was based on “outdated product policies”.
“We settled an investigation with 40 U.S. state attorneys general based on outdated product policies that we changed years ago,” said Google in a blog post. “As well as a financial settlement, we will be making updates in the coming months to provide even greater controls and transparency over location data.”
Google will provide users a rundown of data it collects through tracking and show them more information when they turn their location on and off.
The first state action against Google in light of the AP revelations was filed by Arizona and settled for $85 million last month.
