Google will pay $391.5 million fine for illegally collecting geolocation data from more than 2 billion users

Attorneys General of 40 U.S. states proved that Google illegally collected users' geolocation data. The problem affected 2 billion Android device users and several hundred million iPhone owners.

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According to the plaintiffs, Google misled users when it claimed that geolocation data collection stopped when location tracking was disabled in account settings. The investigation began in 2018, lasted nearly four years, and covered the period 2014-2020.

Google agreed to pay a fine of $391.5 million. Prosecutors have already said the deal was the largest in the United States in the Internet privacy category. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said that the settlement is a historic victory in an era of increasing reliance on technology. Google has also pledged to inform users in more detail about exactly when sensitive data is being collected.

The California-based manufacturer said that a number of changes have been made to the algorithms for collecting user information since the investigation began. In addition, since then, the privacy policy has been changed in accordance with current U.S. law.

Source: AP