Google hit with €403m fine by Irish data watchdog over GDPR violations

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock Image caption, Google say they have improved data protection practices in recent years

Google has been fined €403m (£345m) by the Republic of Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) over its handling of location data.

The penalty - one of the largest of its kind imposed by the Irish watchdog authority - followed an inquiry launched into the tech giant six years ago, following complaints from several European consumer rights organisations.

On Monday the DPC said its investigation found Google had processed data in a manner that was not "lawful", "fair" or "transparent".

The inquiry concerned Google's processing of location data in three specific features - Web & App Activity, Location History and Location Accuracy between 25 May 2018 to 4 February 2020.

Location data is any kind of data which can be used to infer a person's location.