This case settlement of Google is with the state of California for resolving the issue related to tracking location.
The state of California’s attorney general confirms that they have reached a $93 million settlement with Google to resolve the state’s allegations that Google has been using consumers’ data after collecting it without their consent.
The California Department of Justice organized an investigation many years ago. After this multi-year investigation, the Department reached a conclusion. According to the Department, “Google was deceiving users by collecting, storing, and using their location data for consumer profiling and advertising purposes without informed consent.”
Rob Bonta, California Attorney General, also confirmed that Google had also accepted that they would take required actions in the future to leave these practices behind. The Attorney General also affirms that these actions are not only for California. Google will ensure these proposals will be implemented nationwide and worldwide.
When asked by the Google spokesperson, he said, “Consistent with improvements we’ve made in recent years, we have settled this matter, which was based on outdated product policies that we changed years ago.”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 company also mentioned that it had been working on it already, and to support this opinion, Google said a 2022 blog post. This blog confirms that Google has introduced incognito mode and auto-delete controls on Google Maps.
Location-based advertising is one of the most significant features Google offers businesses. It helps companies cater to the market audience according to their locations. On the other hand, Bonta is against Google because he thinks that Google is not truthful. The original complaint filed in the court also mentions it. This complaint says that Google continues collecting data even when the users turn off the location history setting. Although Google disables this feature, it collects data in various other ways.
While discussing the settlement, Google shows its commitment to being more transparent in its location-tracking approach. Moreover, Google will disclose to users that it can use the location for the targeted ads.
