Google Fined $590 Million for Location Data Breach

The European Union has fined Google $590 million for breaching data protection regulations. The technology giant was found to have infringed the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) between May 2018 and February 2020.

The infringement related to the processing of location data in web and app activity and location history, said Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC). The regulator ruled that Google failed to obtain proper consent from users before collecting their location data, leaving them unaware that their information was being used for targeted advertising or interest-based profiling.

DPC deputy commissioner Graham Doyle stated that 'as a result of Google's failures... individuals could have been unaware that their location was being used to, for example, influence them with ads or to infer their interests'. The regulator ordered Google to bring its processing into compliance within six months and pay the hefty fine.