European regulators have imposed a hefty fine of 403 million euros (about $463 million) on Google over serious violations of the EU's strict privacy rules, specifically the opaque handling of location data belonging to millions of users.
The decision was issued by Ireland's Data Protection Commission, which handles the file on behalf of the European Union because Google's European headquarters is located in the capital, Dublin.
The investigation, which lasted six years and covered the period from the entry into force of the General Data Protection Regulation in 2018 until February 2020, found that the US company failed to comply with European law. The violations involved collecting and processing user data through features such as "Web & App Activity," "Location History," and the "Location Accuracy" service in the Android operating system, without providing sufficient transparency or lawful grounds.
Graham Doyle, deputy commissioner at the Irish Data Protection Commission, said Google's policies deprived users of their right to know how their data was being used.
He noted that the company retained location information longer than necessary and used it to infer people's interests and target them with ads without their true knowledge, stripping them of control over their digital privacy.
The penalties were not limited to the financial side: the authority ordered the company to rectify its practices and bring its data processing systems into full compliance with European legislation within a maximum of six months.
In response to the decision, Google defended itself, saying the violations in question dated back to old policies that had since been abandoned and updated.
The company said in a statement that it had made major improvements since 2019 and launched more advanced tools giving users easier control and greater transparency in managing their location data.
The fine ranks as the fourth-largest penalty imposed by the Irish authority on major technology companies for privacy violations, preceded by historic fines against other companies such as Meta, the owner of Facebook and Instagram, which was previously fined 1.2 billion euros, as well as previous fines against TikTok.
