Google to pay record $391.5M in settlement with states over location tracking

Google agreed to pay $391.5 million to settle charges it misled millions of users regarding a setting that tracked location data without their knowledge, according to an agreement the company reached with a coalition of 40 state attorneys general announced Monday.

The monetary total represents the largest attorney general-led consumer privacy settlement in U.S. history, according to press releases from the Oregon and Nebraska attorneys general, who led the coalition.

The states launched a probe into Google’s location data collection and practices following an Associated Press report in 2018 that found the search engine giant continued to track people’s location data even after they opted out.