Google to Pay States $391M in Location Tracking Settlement

(TNS) — Google will pay nearly $391.5 million to authorities in 40 states, including New Jersey, to resolve allegations it misled consumers over how it tracked, recorded and shared their device location data.

The Garden State will receive about $18 million from the settlement, which stemmed from a 2018 report by the Associated Press finding Google’s mobile services stored location data even when users selected privacy settings claiming to prevent the company from doing so.

In a statement, a Google spokesman said the company is now in compliance with state regulators.

“Consistent with improvements we’ve made in recent years, we have settled this investigation which was based on outdated product policies that we changed years ago,” the statement said.

According to the state Attorney General’s Office, the tech giant tracks locations using sensors on a consumer’s phone or tablet such as the GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and cell tower signals.

The AP report, which relied on expertise from computer science researchers at Princeton University, found the company was keeping more information that it told consumers, a privacy breach affecting two billion Android phone users and hundreds of millions of iPhone users.

“Digital platforms like Google cannot claim to provide privacy controls to users then turn around and disregard those controls to collect and sell data to advertisers against users’ express wishes—and at great profit.” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said in a statement.

In court papers, attorneys general in the 40 states claimed Google “caused users to be confused about the scope of the Location History setting, the fact that the Web & App Activity setting existed and also collected location information, and the extent to which consumers who use Google products and services could limit Google’s location tracking by adjusting their account and device settings.”

Under the agreement, Google has pledged to “clearly and conspicuously” disclose its location-tracking practices to users.

On Monday, the company also published a post on its corporate website outlining steps it had taken to better disclose its tracking of customers.

©2022 Advance Local Media LLC, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.