Google has been fined 403 million euros ($463 million) for violating the European Union's strict privacy regulations over its handling of users' location data, the bloc's data protection watchdog said Monday.
Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) said its investigation found that Google had not processed location data lawfully or fairly through its Web & App Activity setting, which tracks users' browsing and search history, and its Location History service, which records places users have visited with their mobile phones.
The regulator also found that Google had failed to process personal data lawfully, fairly and transparently through its Location Accuracy feature in the Android mobile operating system.
Ireland serves as Google's lead privacy regulator in the 27-member EU because the US technology giant has its European headquarters in Dublin.
The investigation, launched six years ago, examined Google's compliance with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) from the regulation's introduction in 2018 through February 2020.
"This case centers around historical policies that have since been updated," Google said in a statement.
"From 2019 onwards, we've significantly evolved our practices and launched robust tools that make managing location data simple," it said.
The regulator said location data is a form of personal information collected by Google that can be used to determine or infer a person's whereabouts.
"Location data can bring both benefits and harms to individuals," DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said.
"It can greatly enhance the utility of online services, but it can also reveal a significant amount of information about an individual, including information that is inherently private," he said.
The fine is the fourth-largest EU privacy penalty imposed by the Irish watchdog, which has previously issued larger fines against TikTok and Meta, including a 1.2 billion-euro penalty against Meta.
The DPC said it has three other privacy investigations involving Google that are still ongoing.
