Google fined $42M for misleading Australian customers on data collection
By 
Aaron Nicodemus2022-08-15T15:19:00
Google was ordered to pay 60 million Australian dollars (U.S. $42 million) to resolve charges levied by Australia’s competition regulator it misled its Australian customers about how to opt out from the collection of their personal location data.
A federal court in Australia ordered Google to pay the penalties “for making misleading representations to consumers about the collection and use of their personal location data on Android phones between January 2017 and December 2018,” according to a press release Friday from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC).
The ACCC filed a lawsuit in 2019 accusing Google and its subsidiary, Google Australia, of violating Australian Consumer Law by not clearly informing users two settings in different locations needed to be turned off in order to properly nullify the company’s collection of location data. Google Australia was not fined separately.
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