Google settles with California for $93M over location privacy allegations 

Google will pay $93 million in a proposed deal with the California attorney general’s office to settle allegations that the tech giant deceived users about how it used their location data, the state announced Thursday. 

In addition to the $93 million settlement, Google has agreed to show additional information to users about enabling location-related account settings and more transparency about location tracking. 

In the complaint filed along with the proposed stipulated judgment, California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D) alleged that Google misled users about how it collected, stored and used a person’s location data, according to a copy of the announcement first shared with The Hill. 

José Castañeda, a Google spokesperson, said in a statement that “consistent with improvements we’ve made in recent years, we have settled this matter, which was based on outdated product policies that we changed years ago.” 

The settlement with California comes after Google settled with 40 other states in November for $391.5 million over similar allegations. 

The California complaint alleged that Google falsely told users if they turned off the “Location History” setting, then the company would not store their data. But the complaint alleges that even after the setting was turned off, Google continued to collect and store users’ location data through other sources. 

The complaint also alleged that Google deceived users about their ability to opt out of geotargeted ads, which use a user’s location data to detail advertising to them. 

The state alleged that Google misled users by still using their real-time location information to serve targeted ads even if they chose a setting that asks to not have personalized ads shown to them. 

“Our investigation revealed that Google was telling its users one thing — that it would no longer track their location once they opted out — but doing the opposite and continuing to track its users’ movements for its own commercial gain. That’s unacceptable, and we’re holding Google accountable with today’s settlement,” Bonta said in a statement.