Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) has fined Google €403 million (roughly $463 million) after a six-year investigation into how the company handled users' location data. The inquiry, launched in February 2020 following complaints from consumer rights groups, examined three features — Web & App Activity, Location History, and Location Accuracy — active between May 2018 and February 2020.
The DPC found Google failed to meet GDPR transparency obligations across all three features and kept location data collected through Web & App Activity and Location History longer than necessary. Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said users "could have been unaware that their location was being used to, for example, influence them with ads or to infer their interests." Google must bring its data processing into compliance within six months.
The €403 million penalty is the fourth-largest the DPC has issued since GDPR took effect, behind Meta's €1.2 billion fine, TikTok's €530 million fine, and a €405 million penalty against Instagram. It underscores how European regulators keep targeting Big Tech's handling of personal data even years after GDPR's introduction.