Google fined over €400m by Irish data watchdog over users' location data breaches

GOOGLE HAS BEEN fined more than €400 million by the Data Protection Commission (DPC) for breaching users’ location data.

The Irish data watchdog launched an inquiry into Google Ireland six years ago, after complaints from multiple European consumer rights organisations about the tech giant’s processing of location data.

The inquiry examined the lawfulness and fairness of its processing of location data and Google’s accountability obligations under general data protection regulation (GDPR).

It found that Google users could have been unaware that their location was being used to influence them with ads or to infer their interests.

The inquiry looked at “web and app activity”, “location history” and “location accuracy” between 25 May 2018 and 4 February 2020.

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