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Australia Says Google Misled Consumers Over Data Collection

By  |  April 16, 2021

Australia’s federal court found Alphabet’s Google misled some consumers about personal location data collected through Android mobile devices, the country’s competition regulator said on Friday.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it is seeking declarations and penalties from Google, reported Reuters. 

“This is an important victory for consumers, especially anyone concerned about their privacy online, as the Court’s decision sends a strong message to Google and others that big businesses must not mislead their customers,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said in a statement.

The case revolves around specific Google settings related to its location data collection, location history and ‘web & app activity’.

The court found that Google wrongly claimed it could only collect information from the location history setting on user devices between January 2017 and December 2018. 

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