Google will pay Washington state $39.9 million after a lawsuit brought by Attorney General Bob Ferguson accused the tech giant of deceptive practices in its location tracking.
Ferguson’s office announced the resolution on Thursday to the case, which was filed in January 2022.
The suit accused Google of misleading consumers about whether they had control over how the company collected and used their location data. Consumers were led to believe that they could disable “location history” and that the places they visited would no longer be stored. Ferguson contended that Google had other ways of storing the data, which is crucial to the company’s advertising business.
“Google denied Washington consumers the ability to choose whether the company could track their sensitive location data, deceived them about their privacy options and profited from that conduct,” Ferguson said in a news release. “Today’s resolution holds one of the most powerful corporations accountable for its unethical and unlawful tactics.”
The legally binding consent decree, filed in King County Superior Court, requires Google to be more transparent with consumers about how it tracks and uses consumer data.
The Attorney General’s Office says it will use money from the resolution “to continue enforcement of the Consumer Protection Act and take more actions to protect Washingtonians’ data privacy.”
It’s the latest legal action taken by Ferguson against Google. Others include a suit related to political advertisements filed in March 2021 that was settled in June 2021; another in 2021 related to Google’s app store; and an antitust-related suit filed in December 2020.
