Ireland’s data protection watchdog has fined Google €403 million ($462 million) for breaching European Union rules on the processing of users’ location data.
The Data Protection Commission (DPC), which oversees the application of EU data protection rules in Ireland, said Google infringed the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) between May 2018 and February 2020.
The regulator said its final decision, following an inquiry launched in February 2020, found that Google breached the GDPR “in respect of the lawfulness and fairness of its processing of location data in web and app activity and location history”.
DPC deputy commissioner Graham Doyle said Google’s failures meant “individuals could have been unaware that their location was being used to, for example, influence them with ads or to infer their interests”.
He added that “the retention of users’ location data for longer than necessary aggravated this loss of control”.
In addition to the €403 million fine, the DPC ordered Google to bring its processing of location data into compliance with the GDPR within six months.
Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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