Irish Data Protection Commission fines Google EUR 403 million for location data processing violations
Original title: The Irish Data Protection Commission fines Google EUR 403 000 000 following Inquiry into Google’s processing of location data
The Irish Data Protection Commission has issued a final decision imposing administrative fines totalling EUR 403 million on Google Ireland Limited following an inquiry into Google's processing of location data across three features. Google infringed the GDPR by failing to ensure lawfulness and fairness of processing in Web & App Activity and Location History, breaching accountability obligations under the transparency principle in Location Accuracy, violating transparency requirements across all three features, and improperly retaining location data. The DPC has ordered Google to bring its processing into compliance within 6 months, requiring the company to implement changes to meet GDPR requirements for lawfulness, transparency, and data retention practices.
What changed
- The Irish DPC issued a final enforcement decision finding that Google Ireland Limited violated GDPR Articles 5, 6, 12, and 13 concerning location data processing across Web & App Activity, Location History, and Location Accuracy features between 25 May 2018 and 4 February 2020
- An administrative fine of EUR 403 million was imposed on Google for the identified violations
- Google was ordered to bring its location data processing into compliance with GDPR requirements within 6 months
- Specific violations identified include failure to ensure lawfulness and fairness of processing in Web & App Activity and Location History, inability to demonstrate compliance with transparency principles in Location Accuracy, and improper retention of location data in Web & App Activity and Location History
Who is affected
Technology companies processing personal location data; Google Ireland Limited and its parent company; data subjects in the EU whose location data was processed through Google services
Summary generated by a language model; the official text prevails. Not legal advice.