Google will have to pay 40 states a total close to $400 million as part of a settlement over its location tracking practices, the office of Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum announced Monday.
Rosenblum and Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson led an investigation into the multinational technology company headquartered in Mountain View, Calif. It is the largest attorney general-led consumer privacy settlement ever, said the Oregon AG office.
An Associated Press article from 2018 inspired Rosenblum and other attorneys general to begin their bipartisan investigation into the company’s practices. Eventually, they found that Google had violated state consumer protection laws by misleading consumers with confusing settings since at least 2014.
“As outlined in the settlement, Google misled its users into thinking they had turned off location tracking in their account settings, when, in fact, Google continued to collect their location information,” said Rosenblum’s office. “In addition to the multimillion-dollar settlement, as part of the negotiations with the AGs, Google has agreed to significantly improve its location tracking disclosures and user controls starting in 2023.”
Google uses location data and other personal data to deliver targeted advertisements to users. According to Rosenblum’s office, location data is among the most sensitive data the company collects to create detailed user profiles, as it can be used to expose a person’s identity and routines.
“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.”
In addition to $391.5 million in payments, Google is now required to make key information about location tracking unavoidable (not hidden) for users and to give users detailed information about the types of location data Google collects and how it’s used at an enhanced “Location Technologies” webpage.
Other states that participated in the settlement include: Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee. The settlement is also joined by Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin.
“Consumer privacy is one of my office’s top priorities. That’s why it’s so important to me that Oregon played a key role in this settlement,” Rosenblum explained. “Until we have comprehensive privacy laws, companies will continue to compile large amounts of our personal data for marketing purposes with few controls.”
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