Google pays $93 million in a settlement it reached with California Lawyer Basic Rob Bonta, resolving allegations that the corporate’s location-privacy practices violated the state’s client safety legal guidelines. The California Division of Justice claimed that Google was “gathering, storing, and utilizing their location information” for client promoting functions with out knowledgeable consent.

The criticism alleges that Google continued to gather client information associated to a person’s location even when a person turned the “location historical past” characteristic off. The corporate settled related lawsuits in Arizona and Washington final yr for illegally monitoring customers.

Along with paying $93 million, Google agreed to “deter future misconduct.” This settlement, which gained’t actually harm Google’s deep pockets, is vital as a result of the tech large generates the vast majority of its income from promoting and location-based promoting is a important characteristic of its promoting platform.

“Per enhancements we have made in recent times, we’ve got settled this matter, which was primarily based on outdated product insurance policies that we modified years in the past,” Google spokesperson José Castañeda informed Engadget.

Shifting ahead, the California AG is asking Google to supply extra transparency about location monitoring by offering customers with detailed details about location information it collects. The corporate should additionally present disclaimers to customers that their location data could also be used for advert personalization.

Replace, September 16, 2023, 2:26 AM ET: This story has been up to date so as to add Google’s assertion.