Google fined €403 million over location data privacy breaches

Google has been fined €403 million by Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) for breaching European Union privacy rules governing the handling of users' location data.

The DPC, which serves as Google's lead data protection regulator in the EU, found that the company failed to process location data lawfully, fairly and transparently through its Web & App Activity and Location History features. Moreover, the regulator identified shortcomings in Google's processing of personal data through the Location Accuracy feature on Android devices. The investigation examined practices between May 2018, when the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) took effect, and February 2020.

Meanwhile, Google maintained that the case concerned older policies that had since been revised, asserting that it had made substantial changes to its practices since 2019, including the introduction of tools to simplify location-data management. The DPC, however, ordered Google to bring its processing practices into compliance within six months.

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Notably, the €403 million penalty ranks among the largest fines the Irish regulator has imposed, while three further investigations into Google's data practices remain ongoing.