Google fined €403 million by Irish watchdog over location data handling
Ireland's Data Protection Commission has fined Google €403 million for breaching EU privacy rules in its handling of users' location data.
Google has been fined 403 million euros ($463 million) by Ireland's Data Protection Commission for breaching the European Union's privacy regulations in its handling of users' location data.
The regulator announced the penalty on Monday, concluding a long-running investigation into how the company processed location information.
The probe, which was opened six years ago, examined Google's compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) from the time the rules took effect in 2018 until February 2020.
Investigators found that Google did not lawfully or fairly process location data in two of its services: Web & App Activity, which tracks browsing and search history, and Location History, which maps the places users have visited with their mobile phones.
The commission also determined that the company failed to meet standards of lawfulness, fairness and transparency when processing personal data through its Location Accuracy feature in the Android mobile operating system.
Ireland serves as the lead privacy regulator for Google across the 27-nation EU because the company's European headquarters is located in Dublin.
"This case centers around historical policies that have since been updated," Google said in a statement. "From 2019 onwards, we've significantly evolved our practices and launched robust tools that make managing location data simple."
Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle noted that location data carries both potential benefits and risks. "It can greatly enhance the utility of online services, but it can also reveal a significant amount of information about an individual, including information that is inherently private," he said.
The fine ranks as the fourth largest EU privacy penalty issued by the Irish watchdog. The regulator has previously imposed heavier fines on TikTok and Meta, including a 1.2 billion euro penalty against Meta.
The commission said it continues to pursue three other ongoing privacy investigations involving Google.