Google will pay an $85 million settlement to the state of Arizona to end allegations that the company illegally tracked the location of users of Android devices. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich sued Google in May 2020, claiming that its Android phones and apps had “dark mode” (a design tactic that can manipulate user behavior) built into the software.
The lawsuit argues that Google runs location tracking in the background to collect advertising data even after users turn off location sharing and makes privacy settings that keep location information private unnecessarily difficult to find. This follows a 2018 report by the Associated Press that found that Google continued to track users through services such as Google Maps, weather updates and browser searches, and continued to do so even after the user party turned off location history.
The settlement is one of the largest per capita payments Google has made in a consumer fraud lawsuit in years, according to Bloomberg.” In a statement, Brnovich said, “When I was elected attorney general, I promised Arizonans that I would fight for them and hold everyone, including companies like Google, accountable. I’m proud of this historic settlement, which proves that no entity, not even a large tech company, is above the law.”
Google spokesman José Castañeda claimed that the case was based on outdated product policies, which have long since been updated.” We offer straightforward controls and automatic deletion options for location data and have been working hard to minimise the data we collect, we are pleased that this matter has been resolved and will continue to focus our attention on providing useful products for our users.”
