Google must pay USD 392 million in penalties for its location tracking policy

First modification: 11/15/2022 – 03:44

The deal will allow Alphabet’s Google to resolve allegations it illegally tracked its users’ locations and prompts the company to rethink its location policies at a time when privacy and advertising are coming under increasing criticism from Internet users.

“It is not an exaggeration to say that we live in a surveillance economy. Please understand that you are being tracked every minute of every day where you are,” Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in a statement.

The agreement of this Monday, November 14 between the litigants and Google was enshrined as the largest payment by a private entity in a multi-state lawsuit in US history.

Oregon and Nebraska were the states in charge of the judicial process. Texas, Indiana, Washington state and the District of Columbia sued Google in January over what they called deceptive location-tracking practices that invade users’ privacy.

Arizona filed a similar case, which the company settled for $85 million in October of this year.

The attorneys general who conducted the investigations explained that location data is a critical part of the company’s digital advertising; data classified as “sensitive”, which give details of behavior, likes, dislikes and lifestyles, which allow companies to be more accurate with the ads that reach each user in a personalized way.

“When consumers make the decision not to share location data on their devices, they should be able to trust that a company will no longer track their every move,” Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said in a statement. “This agreement makes it clear that companies must be transparent in how they track customers and comply with state and federal privacy laws.”

In the first six months of this year, Google had $111 billion in advertising revenue, more than any other online ad seller.

With AP and Reuters.