Google Settles Privacy Dispute with California for $93 Million

Google is set to hand over $93 million to California to settle a lawsuit that accused the search engine of tricking consumers with its location-tracking methods. California Attorney General Rob Bonta stated that “Google was telling its users one thing–that it would no longer track their location once they opted out–but doing the opposite and continuing to track its users’ movements for its own commercial gain. That’s unacceptable.”

Bonta announced on Thursday that Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc, has settled claims that it misled people into thinking they had control over how Google collected and used their personal data. California stated that Google could still create “profiles” of individuals and show them ads, even when they turned off the “Location History” setting. Additionally, California said Google misled people about their ability to block unwanted ads.

The agreement includes steps to improve user privacy, such as Google providing more information about how it tracks people’s locations and what it does with the collected data. Last year in November, Google agreed to resolve similar allegations by paying  $391.5 million to 40 U.S. states. Some of the states have chosen to sue Google, which also includes California. Arizona and Washington already settled.