Thought Leadership
A years-long investigation into Google’s handling of location data has resulted in a major fine. The company says it has since addressed the issues identified by regulators. However, users also need to take action themselves.
Google has been fined more than €400 million (approximately $462 million USD) for violating the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced the decision. The case concerns Google’s handling of users’ location data between 2018 and 2020.
The regulator raised concerns about how location data was processed across Web & App Activity, Location History, and location accuracy.
Affected individuals may not have fully understood that their location data could, for example, be used to influence them through advertising or to draw conclusions about their interests, according to Graham Doyle, the DPC’s deputy commissioner. Users may also have lost control over their personal data. The fact that location data was retained for longer than necessary further contributed to that loss of control, Doyle said, according to the regulator’s statement.
Consumer Groups Filed Complaints
A Google spokesperson said the case relates to practices that have since been updated. “Since 2019, we have comprehensively evolved our practices and introduced powerful tools that make it easy to manage location data,” the spokesperson said.
Users can now choose to have their data automatically deleted after three, 18, or 36 months. Timeline data is now stored directly on the device. Personalized advertising can also be disabled entirely. Google also says it now stores location information only approximately rather than precisely. In addition, information about how location data and account settings are handled has been consolidated in one central location.
Google’s European headquarters are located in Dublin, Ireland, which is why the Irish data protection authority is responsible for the company. The investigation began in 2020 after several European consumer protection organizations filed complaints.
(dpa/Translation: Editorial Team)
