Google to Pay A Historic $85 million Fine After Illegally Tracking Android Phones

Once again, Google is in big trouble. Google has to pay Arizona $85 million in a settlement over a 2020 lawsuit. The lawsuit claimed that Google was illegally tracking Android phones for targeted advertising. According to the latest reports, Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed a lawsuit in May 2020 claiming that Google violated the state’s Consumer Fraud Act by gathering location data from Android users, even after people turned off their location settings.

Google to Pay A Historic $85 million Fine After Illegally Tracking Android Phones

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At that time, Google’s employees were not sure about its privacy controls. They admitted that it could use some fine-tuning so that when users deny the company permission to track their data, it has to follow the instructions.

Google has also requested the Arizona state court to dismiss the case in January. Google said that state consumer law requires that alleged fraud would have to be linked to an advertisement or sale. However, the judge denied the company’s request. Now, Google has to pay an $85 million settlement which is the largest amount per individual user Google has paid in a lawsuit of this scale.

Google spokesperson Jose Castaneda said in the company’s own statement, “We provide straightforward controls and auto delete options for location data, and are always working to minimize the data we collect,” he said. “We are pleased to have this matter resolved and will continue to focus our attention on providing useful products for our users.”

This was not only the single lawsuit, Google was facing. Google is facing lawsuits filed by other attorneys general in Indiana, Texas, and Washington, D.C. over similar data tracking complaints.

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