Jonathan Stempl reports:
Google will pay California $93 million to resolve a lawsuit accusing the search engine company of misleading consumers about its location tracking practices.
The settlement announced on Thursday by California Attorney General Rob Bonta resolves claims that the Alphabet Inc unit deceived people into believing they maintained control over how Google collected and used their personal data.
California said Google was able to “profile” people and target them with advertising even if they turned off their “Location History” setting, and deceived people about their ability to block ads they did not want.
Read more at Reuters.
A copy of the complaint and proposed stipulated judgment, which details the settlement terms and remains subject to court approval, can be found here and here.
Google also settled with private plaintiffs over the same issue. Reuters also reports that money from Google’s $62 million settlement with private plaintiffs would, after deducting legal fees, go to court-approved nonprofit groups that track internet privacy concerns.
h/t, Joe Cadillic, who is indignant about how little the settlement is.