Google to Pay $93 Million in Proposed Deal with California Attorney General’s Office
In a proposed settlement with the California attorney general’s office, Google has agreed to pay $93 million to resolve allegations of deceiving users about its use of location data, the state announced on Thursday.
As part of the settlement, Google has also committed to providing users with additional information regarding location-related account settings and enhancing transparency surrounding location tracking.
According to the complaint filed alongside the proposed judgment, California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) accused Google of misleading users about its collection, storage, and utilization of their location data. The Hill was the first to obtain a copy of the announcement.
In a statement, Google spokesperson José Castañeda acknowledged the settlement and stated, “Consistent with improvements we’ve made in recent years, we have settled this matter, which was based on outdated product policies that we changed years ago.”
The settlement with California follows Google’s previous settlement with 40 other states in November, which amounted to $391.5 million, also involving similar allegations.
The California complaint maintains that Google falsely informed users that disabling the “Location History” setting would prevent the company from storing their data. However, the complaint alleges that even after disabling the setting, Google continued to collect and retain users’ location data through alternative sources.
In addition, the complaint asserts that Google deceived users about their ability to opt out of geotargeted ads, which employ location data to target advertising.
According to the state’s accusations, Google still utilized real-time location information to deliver targeted ads to users, even if they had selected a setting to exclude personalized ads.
“Our investigation revealed that Google was telling its users one thing — that it would no longer track their location once they opted out — but doing the opposite and continuing to track its users’ movements for its own commercial gain. That’s unacceptable, and we’re holding Google accountable with today’s settlement,” said Bonta in a statement.
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