Google reaches $391.5M settlement with state AGs over location tracking

Google location tracking settlement overview: 

• Who: Google reached a $391.5 million settlement with 40 states.
• Why: The settlement resolves allegations the tech giant continued to track users’ locations, even after they’d turned off location tracking.
• Where: The settlement benefits 40 states, including Oregon, Nebraska, New York, Florida and Illinois.

Google reached a record $391.5 million settlement with a 40-state coalition of attorneys general who alleged the tech giant misled users into thinking they had turned off location tracking in their account settings yet the company still tracked their location.

Google announced the deal Nov. 14. It is the largest internet privacy settlement by U.S. states, the attorneys general said. 

The settlement is the result of a four-year investigation into Google’s practices from 2014-2020, in which the attorneys general say the tech giant violated state consumer protection laws.

That investigation stemmed from a 2018 Associated Press report that revealed the company records users’ movements “even when you explicitly tell it not to.”

The states say their investigation revealed that Google confused users about the scope of the location history setting. Specifically, for Google accounts, the location history setting is off unless a user activates it, but the “web & app activity” setting is automatically “on” when users, including all Android phone users, set up an account.

The states also say the company misled users about the extent to which they could limit Google location tracking by adjusting their account and device settings.

Google says it will make tracking disclosures clearer in future

Google agreed to both pay a monetary penalty of $391.5 million, which will be divided between the 40 participating states, and to make its location tracking disclosures clearer starting in 2023.

“This $391.5 million settlement is a historic win for consumers in an era of increasing reliance on technology,” Connecticut Attorney General William Tong says. 

His state will receive $6.5 million from the Google settlement.

“Location data is among the most sensitive and valuable personal information Google collects, and there are so many reasons why a consumer may opt out of tracking,” he says.

The attorneys general of Oregon and Nebraska led the settlement negotiations, assisted by Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. 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 also joined the settlement.

Meanwhile, in June, four Democratic Congressmembers urged Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan to investigate the allegedly unfair and deceptive tracking, collection and sale of millions of mobile phone users’ data by Apple and Google. 

What do you think of this Google location tracking settlement? Let us know in the comments!

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