Google fined €403m by Irish watchdog over location data

Tech giant Google has been fined €403m by the Data Protection Commission (DPC) over the processing of location data.

Under data protection rules, such information must be processed in a lawful, fair and transparent manner.

The DPC said that its investigation into Google found failures in this regard meaning that people could have been unaware that their location was being used to, for example, influence them with ads or to infer their interests, and could lose control over their personal data.

"The retention of users' location data for longer than necessary aggravated this loss of control," said DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle.

"Location data is a type of personal data which is processed by way of location tracking, and includes data collected or processed by Google, which by itself or in conjunction with other information an individual's location can be inferred," Mr Doyle said.

The investigation focused on the period of May 2018 to February 2020.

It looked at location settings on services such as Google's search engine and Google Maps, as well as location accuracy features on Android devices.

The DPC said that location data can bring both benefits and harms to individuals.

"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," the DPC said.

The investigation was launched by the DPC in February 2020, following receipt of complaints from several European consumer rights' organisations regarding Google’s processing of location data in connection with certain services and products.

The decision, which was made by the Commissioners for Data Protection, Dr Des Hogan, Dale Sunderland and Niamh Sweeney, found that Google had infringed the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

The DPC has imposed fines totalling €403m and has ordered Google to bring its processing into compliance within six months.

In a statement, Google said the case centres around historical policies that have since been updated.

"From 2019 onwards, we've significantly evolved our practices and launched robust tools that make managing location data simple," a spokesperson said.

The changes that have been introduced by Google include settings to automatically delete data, ad management tools, and increased transparency around how data is used.

It is understood that Google will appeal the ruling focused on legal issues that require clarification beyond this case.