Ireland fines Google €403 million, orders six-month fix on location data
Ireland's DPC found Google violated GDPR in processing location data; the fine comes with a six-month compliance order worth tracking.
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Ireland's Data Protection Commission fined Google €403 million (about $462 million) on September 21.
The investigation began in early 2020 and found Google's location data processing violated the GDPR: users could have been unaware their location was used for ad targeting or interest inference, and data was retained longer than necessary. The commission also ordered Google to bring its processing into compliance within six months.
Google said the case concerns historical policies and that its practices have evolved significantly since 2019. The penalty is among the largest ever imposed by the Irish regulator, and whether the remediation lands on time is the thing to watch.