Google Agrees To Pay $60 Million Fine In Australia For illegally Collecting Location Data

Google has been found guilty of violating Australian consumer protection laws by collecting location data from Android users without their consent and deliberately misleading them. Google has reached a settlement with the regulator. The American group will have to pay a fine of up to $60 million to close the case.

According to the Australian Associated Press, Google agreed to a fine of $60 million to end a lengthy legal battle against the Australian Commission charged with protecting competition and consumers. The agreement, presented as “fair and reasonable” for both parties, was submitted to the Federal Court of Justice on Friday, August 12, 2022, and accepted by the judge. In April 2021, the same federal court ruled that Google was guilty of violating Australian consumer law by collecting location data from Android users without their express consent and leading them to believe that this information had not been hijacked.

Google was found guilty of collecting location data without permission

The decision was welcomed by the Australian regulator, who believed it sent a clear signal to the tech giants about the need to comply with consumer protection laws, especially those relating to the collection and exploitation of their personal data.

Google will be punished for confusing Android users. If location history is set to “off”, but web and app activity tracking is “on”, Google collected location data when these services were used. The American group was also found guilty of having broken two other laws of consumer protection. First, Google is responsible for intentionally misleading users. On the other hand, it is wrong to intentionally mislead users about the features and performance of certain functions.