Ireland regulator fines Google $463,000,000 over location tracking

Ireland's Data Protection Commission fined Google $463,000,000 over how the company handled users' location information. The inquiry covered Google's processing of location data from May 25, 2018, to February 4, 2020. Regulators found breaches of European Union privacy rules involving Web & App Activity, Location History and Location Accuracy. The violations included retaining location records longer than necessary. The investigation opened in February 2020 after complaints from European consumer groups, including BEUC. Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said people may not have known that their location data was being used to influence them with advertising or infer their interests. He said the retention of the data for longer than necessary worsened the resulting loss of control over personal data. Google must bring its processing into compliance within six months. Google called the case a matter of historical policies and said that since 2019 it has added auto-delete options, on-device Timeline storage and more controls over the use of location data in advertising. The fine is the DPC's fourth-largest against a major technology company.