Google to pay US$391mil over ‘crafty’ location tracking

Google has agreed to a US$391.5mil settlement with 40 US states in connection with an investigation into how the company tracked users’ locations. State attorneys general announced the settlement Monday, Nov 14, 2022 calling it the largest multistate privacy settlement in US history. — AP

Google agreed to pay a total of US$391.5mil (RM1.79bil) to 40 US states to resolve a probe into controversial location-tracking practices that the Alphabet Inc unit says it already discarded several years ago, in what state officials are calling the largest such privacy settlement in US history.

Google will “significantly improve” its location-tracking disclosures and user controls starting next year as part of the deal, according to a statement issued Monday by Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, who led the negotiations with her Nebraska counterpart, Doug Peterson.