Google agrees to pay $391.5 million in a settlement with 40 states in a lawsuit involving the search engine company tracking users’ locations. The result of the work of a coalition of state attorneys general, this is the largest consumer privacy agreement led by an attorney general.

A 2018 story by the Associated Press sparked the lawsuit. It held that Google continued to collect personal and behavioral location data and sell it to advertisers, even after users opted out of location history in their settings.

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said in a press release:

“For years Google has prioritized profits over the privacy of their users. They have become cunning and deceitful. Consumers thought they had turned off their location tracking features on Google, but the company continued to record their movements and used that information for advertisers.”

Under the terms of today’s settlement, Google will provide a detailed rundown of the data it regularly collects and display this information on a publicly accessible webpage.

Google Commits to Changing Location Data Policies

In a blog post, the Mountain View, California-based tech company outlines some of the changes it will implement in response to the settlement.

Changes include:

• Hubs consolidate user information into a single comprehensive repository
• Additional disclosures
• Deleting location data simplified
• Providing new accounts with a more detailed explanation of Web and App Activity, including what information it includes and how Google uses it

Google’s blog post states:

“Today’s settlement is another step on the path of providing more meaningful choices and minimizing data collection while providing more useful services.”

The blog post also highlights the benefits that location information provides to users, including consideration of traffic conditions in Google Maps driving directions, restaurant business, and connected experiences at properties. Google.

With these updates, Google reinforces its commitment to creating more transparency around user privacy and data collection policies. These include automatic deletion controls, Incognito mode for Google Maps and increased transparency about how the search engine uses location data.

Location Data Is An Important Part Of Google’s Ad Business

Google’s digital advertising relies heavily on location data to gather personal and behavioral data that marketers use to create detailed consumer profiles. In turn, advertisers use the data to create targeted campaigns that speak to a specific demographic.

Personalized advertising generated more than $209 billion in ad revenue in 2021 for Aphabet, Inc., the parent company of Google.

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