The Federal Court has found that Google misled consumers over the collection of location data from January 2017 to December 2018.
In 2019, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) began legal proceedings against Google, alleging the tech giant misled consumers about the personal location data it collects, keeps and uses.
Today the court ruled that when consumers created a new Google account during the initial set-up process on an Android device, Google misrepresented that the "location history" setting was the only setting that affected whether Google collected, kept or used personally identifiable data about their location.
However, the "web & app activity" setting also enabled Google to collect, store and use personally identifiable location data when it was turned on, and that setting was turned on by default.
The court also found that when consumers accessed the "location history" setting on their Android device during the same time period to turn that setting off, they were also misled because Google did not inform them that by leaving the "web & app activity" setting switched on, Google would continue to collect, store and use their personally identifiable location data.
“Today’s decision is an important step to make sure digital platforms are up front with consumers about what is happening with their data and what they can do to protect it,” says ACCC chair Rod Sims.
“We are extremely pleased with the outcome in this world-first case. Between January 2017 and December 2018, consumers were led to believe that ‘Location History’ was the only account setting that affected the collection of their personal location data, when that was simply not true.
“Companies that collect information must explain their settings clearly and transparently so consumers are not misled.”
The ACCC says it is seeking fines against Google, as well as declarations, publications orders, and compliance orders which will be determined in the future.
“In addition to penalties, we are seeking an order for Google to publish a notice to Australian consumers to better explain Google’s location data settings in the future,” Sims says.
“This will ensure that consumers can make informed choices about whether certain Google settings that personal collect location data should be enabled.”
The court dismissed the ACCC’s allegations about certain statements Google made about the methods by which consumers could prevent Google from collecting and using their location data, and the purposes for which personal location data was being used by Google.
“The court rejected many of the ACCC’s broad claims,” a Google spokesperson says.
“We disagree with the remaining findings and are currently reviewing our options, including a possible appeal.
“We provide robust controls for location data and are always looking to do more - for example we recently introduced auto delete options for Location History, making it even easier to control your data.”
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