(Sept 21): Ireland’s media watchdog has fined Alphabet Inc’s Google over how the tech company processed location data after complaints from several European consumer rights organisations.

Google was fined €403 million (RM1.89 billion) by the Data Protection Commission after the watchdog said in a statement on Monday that the firm infringed rules including how it processed location data in web and app activity, as well as location history.

It also ordered Google to bring its processing into compliance within six months.

“As a result of Google’s failures in this regard, individuals could have been unaware that their location was being used to, for example, influence them with ads or to infer their interests, and could lose control over their personal data,” Deputy Commissioner at the regulator, Graham Doyle, said.

Google said the case centres around historical policies that have since been updated. “From 2019 onwards, we’ve significantly evolved our practices and launched robust tools that make managing location data simple,” it said in a statement on Monday after the fine was issued.

Its the fourth largest fine issued by the regulator since the general data protection regulations came into place. In 2023, the watchdog fined Facebook owner Meta Platforms Inc €1.2 billion for transferring personal data from the European Union to the US.

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