Google to Pay $391.5M to Settle Location-Tracking Lawsuit
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Google has agreed to pay $391.5 million to 40 states to settle a probe of how the company tracked users’ locations.
Key Quotes: "For years Google has prioritized profit over their users' privacy," Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said in a release. "They have been crafty and deceptive. Consumers thought they had turned off their location tracking features on Google, but the company continued to secretly record their movements and use that information for advertisers." Google Policy Communications Manager José Castañeda said, "Consistent with improvements we've made in recent years, we have settled this investigation which was based on outdated product policies that we changed years ago."
For Context: The settlement is the largest-ever for a U.S. consumer privacy case brought by states. A 2018 Associated Press investigation that sparked the lawsuit showed that Google collected data from users even if they had turned off their location history. Google had said it informed users that location data would still be used to improve user experience even when location history was turned off. In the U.S. and around the world, the business practices of Google and other Big Tech companies are a growing focus of government lawsuits.
How the Media Covered it: The story was covered more prominently by left- and center-rated sources, but the coverage itself was similar across the political spectrum.
Featured Coverage of this Story
From the Left
40 states settle Google location-tracking charges for $392M
Search giant Google has agreed to a $391.5 million settlement with 40 states to resolve an investigation into how the company tracked users’ locations, state attorneys general announced Monday.
The states’ investigation was sparked by a 2018 Associated Press story, which found that Google continued to track people’s location data even after they opted out of such tracking by disabling a feature the company called “location history.”
The attorneys general called the settlement a historic win for consumers, and the largest multistate settlement in U.S history dealing with privacy.
It comes...
From the Center
Google Agrees to $391.5 Million Privacy Settlement With 40 States
Google has agreed to pay $391.5 million in a privacy settlement with 40 state attorneys general over its location tracking practices, according to Oregon's Department of Justice on Monday.
The agreement is the largest consumer privacy settlement by states in US history. States argued that the search giant misled people into thinking they had turned off proximity-based data collection when the company continued to allocate that information. Google agreed to improve its location tracking disclosures starting in 2023.
"For years Google has prioritized profit over their users' privacy," Oregon Attorney General Ellen...
From the Right
Google to Settle Location-Tracking Lawsuit for $400 Million
Alphabet's Google will pay about $400 million to settle a complaint brought by a group of states over allegations the search and advertising giant illegally tracked users' locations, two people familiar with the matter said.
The announcement will come as early as Monday, the sources said.
The lawsuit, which includes Oregon, the people said, is a sign of mounting legal headaches for the tech company from state attorneys general who have aggressively targeted the firm's user tracking practices in recent months.
Arizona filed a similar case against Google and settled...
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