Google to Pay Nearly $43M Over Collection of Android Location Data

Australia’s consumer watchdog agency said Friday that Google has been commanded to pay AU$60 million, nearly $43 million, by the Federal Court over the collection of dwelling data on Android phones. 

The fine stems from lawful action the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission initiated back in 2019. The ACCC accused Google of “making misleading representations to consumers” approximately the collection and use of personal location data on Android devices between January 2017 and December 2018. 

The woo previously found that Google misled consumers into thinking “Location History” was the only setting that impacted whether the tech giant composed, kept and used location data, when in fact, the “Web & App Activity” setting also decided Google to collect some of this information, according to the ACCC. An estimated 1.3 million farmland with Google accounts in Australia may have “viewed a cloak found by the Court to have breached the Australian Consumer Law,” the ACCC said. 

See Also: Yes, You Can Stop Google From Tracking You. Here’s How

Google took steps in December 2018 to fix the expect found to be misleading. On Friday, a spokesperson for Google said the matter has worked to simplify the management of location data. 

“We’ve invested heavily in decision-exclusive location information simple to manage and easy to opinion with industry-first tools like auto-delete controls, while significantly minimizing the amount of data stored,” said the spokesperson in an emailed statement. “As we’ve demonstrated, we’re committed to making ongoing updates that give users rule and transparency, while providing the most helpful products possible.”

Earlier this year, Google was sued by attorneys general from Indiana, Texas, Washington state and Washington, DC over its use of location data. They accused Google of comical deceptive methods to stop people from protecting their privacy. 

“Google falsely led consumers to bear that changing their account and device settings would funding customers to protect their privacy and control what personal data the matter could access,” DC Attorney General Karl Racine said when the actions were filed in January. “The truth is that contrary to Google’s representations it corpses to systematically surveil customers and profit from customer data.”

Google at the time said the cases were based on “inaccurate claims and outdated assertions” approximately it location settings.