Location tracking will soon be even easier to manage on Google’s services
Google is facing a lot of regulatory scrutiny in the EU, but other parts of the world are also slowly starting to investigate big tech companies more closely. The search business is feeling the pressure in the US, with a lawsuit built around user location tracking from 2018 leading to a $400 million settlement just this week.
The lawsuit was filed by 40 states, saying that Google was illegally tracking user locations. As Reuters reports, the investigation was led by Oregon and Nebraska, with the attorney generals taking issue with Google continuing to track users even when they opted out of location history. This appears to have been an issue since 2014.
As Google said in a blog post, it stopped this practice years ago and revamped location history options to combat this issue. Improvements include the option to automatically delete location data on a rolling basis, a new incognito mode on Google Maps, and more transparency surrounding Maps and Search data. New accounts have the auto-delete option enabled by default, too.
The company vowed to improve location tracking even further as part of the settlement. Google said that it will revamp its activity controls and its data & privacy pages to make it clearer which data you share with the company, all while also adding “a single, comprehensive information hub that highlights key location settings.” Deleting your location data is also supposed to get easier and faster with a new tool. Last but not least, when you set up a new account, the company will give a more detailed explanation on its location tracking and its app tracking options.
Google is currently under investigation for a few more lawsuits. A number of US states sued the company this year for further invasive location tracking issues. Meanwhile, Google also faces further fines in the EU for Google Shopping and only recently had to pay a record $4.1 billion for antitrust violations surrounding Android.
