Following court action by the ACCC, Google will pay $60 million in fines to settle claims after misleading numerous Australian users on how their data was being collected between January 2017 and December 2018.
The Court previously found that Google LLC and Google Australia Pty Ltd had breached the Australian Consumer Law by misleading some Android users in Australia by representing that the ‘Location History’ setting was the only setting responsible for collecting user data.
Instead, a second option named ‘Web and App Activity’ was performing a similar function and was automatically turned on.
The issue is reported to have impacted around 1.3 million Australians.
On Friday, a brief federal court hearing was told a $60m penalty was agreed as “fair and reasonable” between the parties and that a joint submission had been submitted to Justice Thomas Thawley.
ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb said: “Google, one of the world’s largest companies, was able to keep the location data collected through the ‘Web & App Activity’ setting and that retained data could be used by Google to target ads to some consumers, even if those consumers had the ‘Location History’ setting turned off.”
Cass-Gottlieb added that the penalty “sends a strong message to digital platforms and other businesses, large and small, that they must not mislead consumers about how their data is being collected and used.”
A spokesperson for Google told Mumbrella, “We can confirm that we’ve agreed to settle the matter concerning historical conduct from 2017-2018.
“We’ve invested heavily in making location information simple to manage and easy to understand with industry-first tools like auto-delete controls, while significantly minimising the amount of data stored. As we’ve demonstrated, we’re committed to making ongoing updates that give users control and transparency, while providing the most helpful products possible.”
See also: Google’s planned acquisition of Mandiant unopposed by ACCC