Google Class Actions Claim Company Tracked, Stored Users’ Location Data After They Disabled Function

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Google Location Tracking Class Action Lawsuits Overview: 

• Who: Attorneys general from four states and the District of Columbia have filed lawsuits against Google.
• Why: AGs claim Google continues to track and store users’ location data even after they have opted out of the feature. 
• Where: Lawsuits have been filed against Google in Arizona, Texas, Indiana, Washington and the District of Columbia. 

Attorneys general from Texas, Indiana, Washington and the District of Columbia have filed parallel bipartisan lawsuits alleging Google continued to track its users’ locations even after they believed they’d disabled the feature. 

The AGs’ parallel lawsuits claim Google uses other methods to continue tracking users’ locations after they disable location history when using Google services on Android devices and iPhones while users falsely believe their location data is no longer being stored.

Google, which the AGs claim has been improperly collecting location data since at least 2014, uses the data to create targeted advertisements for users, netting it billions of dollars in profits, the AGs argue. 

“Google has become one of the richest companies in the world, in part, by deceiving Texans and profiting off their confusion,” the Texas lawsuit alleges. “Google has systematically misled, deceived and withheld material facts from users in Texas about how their loca!on is tracked and used and how to stop Google from mone!zing their movements.”

Other methods used by Google to track location data include a setting named “web and app activity” that tracks users’ interactions with certain Google applications, including its Google Play Store and map, according to the lawsuits.

Google Must Also Face Similar Claims Brought By Arizona AG

The suit comes only days after an Arizona state judge declined to dismiss a lawsuit filed by its AG alleging Google misled its users about its location tracking. 

The lawsuit was filed against Google in May 2020 with Arizona’s AG claiming, similarly to the aforementioned AGs from Texas, Indiana, Washington and D.C., that the company would simply find other means to track users’ locations if they decided to opt out of location tracking. 

Google had its request for summary judgment denied by the judge, who decided to keep alive claims the company had violated the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act (ACFA). 

Google is arguing that fraud claims brought by the AG weren’t connected to the advertisement or sale of merchandise, a stipulation of the ACFA. 

The judge ruled it would be up to a jury, however, to determine if “the alleged deception at issue here was sufficiently connected to a sale.” 

Earlier this month, a trial date was set for January 2023 for multidistrict litigation of class action lawsuits alleging Google monopolized its Android Play Store. 

Have you opted out of having your location tracked by Google? Let us know in the comments! 

The plaintiffs are represented by their respective attorney general’s offices.

The Google Location Tracking Class Action Lawsuits are State of Arizona v. Google LLC, Case No. CV2020-006219, in the Superior Court of the State of Arizona; State of Texas v. Google LLC, in Victoria County District Court; State of Washington v. Google LLC, in King County Superior Court; State of Indiana v. Google LLC, in Marion County Superior Court; and District of Columbia v. Google LLC, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.

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