Irish privacy regulator fines Google €403 million over location data processing
DPC says users may have lost control over personal data
The fine was the fourth largest of the more than €4 billion in total levied by the DPC since it became the lead EU regulator for most big US tech firms under the strict 2018 GDPR due to the location of companies' EU operations in Ireland.
"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, and could lose control over their personal data," DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said in a statement.
The DPC opened the inquiry in 2020 following complaints from several European consumer rights organisations, including the pan-European consumers' organisation BEUC, regarding Google's processing of location data.
The infringements included the lawfulness and fairness of Google's processing of location data in Web & App Activity, an account setting that processes information related to users’ activity on Google services, and , which keeps track of users' location through mobile devices.
