Washington, three other states sue Google alleging deceptive location tracking practices

• Google says the claim is based on outdated assertions about settings

• Arizona also filed a similar lawsuit in May 2020, which is also pending

State attorneys generals from Texas, Indiana, Columbia and Washington D.C. are suing Alphabet Inc’s (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google, alleging that the tech giant is tracking users location deceptively to target advertising.

The lawsuits, filed on Monday, claimed Google makes it difficult for consumers to opt-out of location tracking, giving the company access to more accurate data to help fuel its lucrative advertising business.

“Google falsely led consumers to believe that changing their account and device settings would allow customers to protect their privacy and control what personal data the company could access,” Washington, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine’s office said in a statement.

ALSO READ: Peloton investor Blackwells calls for the removal of CEO John Foley

“The truth is that contrary to Google’s representations, it continues to systematically surveil customers and profit from customer data. Google’s bold misrepresentations are a clear violation of consumers’ privacy.”

Allegations

The lawsuit said that even when users turn off their location tracking on phones, Google continues to track movements using a separate function called “Web & App Activity,” and the tech giant harnesses the location data to build digital identities and better target ads to them.

Google has been facing intense scrutiny from the regulators recently and is already facing questions about whether the company continues to track web browsers for users who use “incognito mode” and whether users can effectively block Google’s activity-tracking cookies.

Earlier this month, the company also lost a court battle for infringing home-audio company Sonos Inc’s (NASDAQ: SONO) smart-speaker patent.

ALSO READ: Intel to invest $20 billion in Ohio chip manufacturing facility

Google’s spokesperson  Jose Castaneda, in a statement, said that the “attorneys general are bringing a case based on inaccurate claims and outdated assertions about our settings. We have always built privacy features into our products and provided robust controls for location data. We will vigorously defend ourselves and set the record straight.”

In May 2020, Arizona also filed a similar lawsuit against Google over its collection of users’ location data.

UK competition regulators are also trying to reign on the tech giant. Last December, CMA said Google holds a “vice-like” grip over how consumers use mobile phones, along with Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL).

Picture Credit: Livemint