Google attacked by EU consumer groups over location tracking

Signage is displayed at Google Inc. headquarters in Mountain View, California, U.S., on Wednesday, April 25, 2018. Alphabet Inc. is pushing efforts to roll back the most comprehensive biometric privacy law in the U.S., even as the company and its peers face heightened scrutiny after the unauthorized sharing of data at Facebook Inc. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Google runs the risk of hefty fines from the European Union’s beefed-up data-protection watchdogs after consumer groups accused the search-engine giant of abusing tools that track users’ location. 

Seven European consumer organisations on Nov 27 said they would file complaints with their national regulators, who now have powers to levy penalties of as much as 4% of a company’s annual sales for the most serious violations. The groups accuse Google of collecting data that can reveal a lot more about its users than just their location, such as their political leanings or sexual orientation.