The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC), acting on behalf of the European Union, has fined the American technology company Google €403 million for violations related to the processing of users' location data, LETA reported citing AFP. The DPC stated that violations of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) occurred between May 2018 and February 2020. An investigation was initiated in February 2020. As a result, the commission concluded that Google violated GDPR requirements concerning the legality and transparency of processing users' location data in its web services, mobile applications, and the 'Location History' feature. According to the regulator, users may not have been aware that their location information was being used, in particular, for personalizing advertisements and drawing conclusions about their interests. In addition to the monetary fine, the commission required Google to bring its data processing into compliance with European legislation within six months and to rectify the identified violations.
