Google Fined in Australia for Misleading Location Settings

The company must pay $60 million in penalties

The Australian consumer watchdog has issued a $60 million fine for Google, as the company allegedly misled customers about the location tracking settings on Android.

More specifically, ACCC says that Google told users that disabling “Location History” on their devices would no longer collect location data, whereas the setting called “Web & App Activity” in the Google account allowed the company to continue to collect store, and use personally identifiable location data.

ACCC emphasizes this setting was activated by default on all devices, and the watchdog estimates that users of approximately 1.3 million accounts in the country have been misled by this approach.

“This significant penalty imposed by the Court today sends a strong message to digital platforms and other businesses, large and small, that they must not mislead consumers about how their data is being collected and used,” ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said.

“Google, one of the world’s largest companies, was able to keep the location data collected through the “Web & App Activity” setting and that retained data could be used by Google to target ads to some consumers, even if those consumers had the “Location History” setting turned off.”

Google has already addressed the complaints in Android

Worth knowing, however, is that Google has already resolved the reported issues by December 2018, so right now, users should no longer be misled about the screens shown on Android regarding the collection of location data.

However, the ACCC started the proceedings against the company in October 2019, as the company allegedly violated the Australian Consumer Law.

“Companies need to be transparent about the types of data that they are collecting and how the data is collected and may be used, so that consumers can make informed decisions about who they share that data with,” Cass-Gottlieb continued.