Google has found itself in hot waters after losing a lawsuit filed by Arizona Attorney general Mark Brnovich. According to Engadget, the attorney claimed that Google has been invading user privacy by tracking Android users for targeted advertising.
The issue has been intensified by the fact that Google can still optimize its advertising systems using the user's location, even if the device's location data settings are turned off, with no clear way to prevent it.
Arizona is not the only state to file lawsuits as well. There are similar complaints filed by attorney generals from Texas, Washington D.C., and Indiana.
Google, the State, and the Lawsuit
The tech company will be settling the lawsuit by paying Arizona $85 million. It has been the largest settlement that Google has paid for concerning the kind of lawsuit that was filed, according to Brnovich.
Arizona is represented by Gallagher & Kennedy, a Phoenix-based law firm. Information system assistant professor from Arizona State University's W.P. Carey School of Business, Viktor Benjamin, stated that Google's primary source of revenue is its ads, so they would prefer settling than incurring further financial damage from legal actions.
Benjamin also mentioned that paying for the settlement now will allow them to avoid future liabilities or legal issues, according to USA Today.
Despite that speculation by Benjamin, Brnovich is still proud of the historic settlement since according to him, this proves that no entity, not even big tech companies, is above the law.
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The Damage to Google
$85 million seems like a large sum to most, but to Google, it is a small price to pay to avoid further damage to its reputation. Money-wise, it is basically a small dent in Google's financials seeing that they have a quarterly revenue of approximately $69 million.
José Castañeda, Google's spokesperson, said that the issue on which the lawsuit was based, was related to old policies that have long since been changed. He also claimed that they try to minimize the data that they collect and provide straightforward controls for location data, including auto delete.
Google spokesperson mentioned that they are pleased to have the matter resolved and that they will work on providing useful products for their users.
Substantial Cases Over the Years
This isn't the first time that Google had to take a couple out of its company wallets because of questionable practices. Google also had previous issues with the European Commission.
Google was fined $1.69 billion due to its "abusive practices in online advertising", and that doesn't include the fines they had to pay back in 2017 and 2018, which collectively amounted to $7.4 billion.
The online advertising company managed to evade competition by making exclusive contracts with publishers through their AdSense service. This allowed the company to hold 70% of the market in Europe.
This accomplishment backfired since their domination over the advertising market for ten years in Europe is also what made the fine pile up to $1.69 billion. The fine was based on the value of Google's revenue from online advertisements.
