- Google is paying $29.5 million in total to settle lawsuits in Washington and Indiana over users’ location tracking practices.
- Google has paid $391 to a coalition of 40 states to settle an investigation about its tracking practices and it became the largest privacy-related multi-state settlement.
- Google will be required to make it clear to users how the location data is collected, stored, and used as a part of the settlement.
Google has agreed to pay $29.5 to settle two lawsuits over its user location tracking in two different states. Google will pay $9.5 million to Washington DC and $20 million to Indiana. The states sued the tech giant for tracking customers’ locations without their consent. Last month, Google has agreed to pay $391.5 million in total to 40 states for similar allegations.
Indiana and Washington DC
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita stated that they filed a lawsuit against Google over the company’s deceptive location-tracking practices. Rokita claimed that the company was misleading users about user location practices since at least 2014. Google has agreed to pay $20 million to Indiana to resolve the lawsuit.
Washington DC Attorney General Karl Racine also announced their victory with a tweet and confirmed that Google is paying $9.5 million to Washington DC as a part of the settlement between the state and Google. Racine claimed that Google is tricking users to gain access to their locations and made it nearly impossible for users to prevent Google to track their locations. Google will make clear to the users how their location data is collected, stored, and used, as a part of the settlement.
WIN: My office reached a settlement with Google requiring the company to pay $9.5 million for deceiving and manipulating consumers—including by using "dark patterns" to trick users and gain access to their location data.
— AG Karl A. Racine (@AGKarlRacine) December 30, 2022
A coalition of 40 states launched an investigation into Google’s tracking practices, claiming that the company was even tracking users who decided to opt-out of being tracked. The tech giant has agreed to pay $391 million in November to settle the investigation. It was the largest privacy-related multi-state settlement in U.S. history.