The Federal Court in Australia on Friday ordered Google to pay a fine of more than $40 million for misleading consumers about the collection and use of their personal location data on Android phones.
According to Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the data was collected between January 2017 and December 2018.
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The Court previously found that Google violated Australian consumer law by representing some Android users that a setting titled “Location History” was the only Google Account setting that affected whether Google was personally identifiable about their location. Collects, maintains and uses data.
In fact, another Google Account setting called “Web & App Activity” enabled Google to collect, store, and use personally identifiable location data, and this setting was on by default, the ACCC said in a statement. said in.
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ACCC Chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb, said, “This significant fine imposed by the court sends a strong message to digital platforms and other businesses, large and small, that they should not mislead consumers about how their data is collected and used. He is going.”
Personal location data is sensitive and important to some consumers, and “some users who have seen representations would have made different choices about the collection, storage and use of their location data if the misleading representation was not made by Google, Cas-Gottlieb added.
The ACCC estimated that 1.3 million Google Accounts users in Australia may have seen a screen set by a court in violation of Australian consumer law.
Google took corrective steps and addressed all infringing practices by December 20, 2018, meaning users were no longer shown deceptive screens.
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Cass-Gottlieb said, “Companies need to be transparent about the type of data they are collecting and how the data is collected and used, so that consumers can make informed decisions about with whom they share that data.”
The ACCC initiated proceedings against Google and Google Australia in October 2019.
In April 2021, the Federal Court found that Google had violated Australian consumer law.
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