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ARTICLE · 30 APRIL 2021

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Australian Federal Court Finds Google Liable For Misleading Users Regarding Its Processing Of Geolocation Data

Pearl Cohen Zedek Latzer Baratz
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The decision was delivered on a lawsuit filed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

AustraliaAntitrust/Competition Law
Haim Ravia
Haim Ravia
Dotan Hammer
Dotan Hammer

A federal court in Australia has found Google liable for misleading Android users nearly two years into thinking that with their Location History setting "off" Google would not obtain and use personal data about a user's location. However, Google continued to obtain and use location data so long as the Web & App Activity was "on".

Similarly, when users during that period accessed the Location History setting to toggle it off, they were misled because they were not informed that by leaving the Web & App Activity was "on" Google would still obtain and use location data.

Google's use of the user's location data was not limited to the purpose of serving the user's use of Google services, but also to personalize advertisements for the user and other purposes.

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