Google fined R7.5 billion by European Union for data location breach - IOL

Google has been fined €403 million (about R7.5 billion) over breaches involving users’ location data.

Ireland's data protection watchdog, acting on behalf of the European Union, said Monday that it had fined Google 403 million euros (about R7.5 billion) for breaching users' location data.

The technology giant infringed the EU's General Data Protection Regulation on the matter between May 2018 and February 2020, Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC), which is charged with applying the bloc's rules over the issue, said in a statement.

In its final decision after launching an inquiry in February 2020, the DPC ruled that Google infringed the GDPR "in respect of the lawfulness and fairness of its processing of location data in web and app activity and location history".

DPC deputy commissioner Graham Doyle said that "as a result of Google's failures... individuals could have been unaware that their location was being used to, for example, influence them with ads or to infer their interests".

He added that "the retention of users' location data for longer than necessary aggravated this loss of control".

Alongside the fine, the regulator said it had "ordered Google to bring its processing into compliance within six months".

Contacted by AFP, Google did not immediately respond.

Google has faced other major privacy penalties in Europe. In 2019, France's data protection regulator CNIL fined the company €50 million for breaches of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation relating to transparency and consent for personalised advertising.

In Ireland, the Data Protection Commission has also investigated Google's handling of personal data. Its inquiries have included an investigation into Google's processing of personal data in the development of its PaLM 2 artificial intelligence model, which was opened in 2024 and was still ongoing at the end of that year.