Federal Court dismisses ACCC case alleging Google misled consumers about data-collection on non-Google sites
The Federal Court has dismissed the ACCC’s case against Google LLC, finding that the digital platform did not mislead Australian consumers about the scope of personal collected from their internet activity on non-Google website or apps.
The court proceedings were launched by the ACCC in July 2020, with the regulator alleging that Google failed to properly inform consumers nor gain their explicit informed consent when in 2016 it began combining personal information in consumers’ Google accounts with information about those individuals’ activities on non-Google sites that used Google technology to display ads.
When the changes were introduced in June 2016, Google prompted consumers with a notification, which allowed users to ‘opt-in’ to the changes by clicking ‘I agree’.
By opting-in, internet tracking data that had previously been kept separate from users’ Google accounts and was not linked to an individual user, was now linked to users’ names and other identifying information, which was used to improve the commercial performance of Google’s advertising business.
At the time, the ACCC also argued that changes to the privacy policy reduced the rights of account holders’ without obtaining their explicit consent.
The Court found that the notification and changes were not misleading given that Google had sought the consent of account holders, and only implemented the changes once informed consent had been gained. The Court also noted that Google did not reduce account holders’ rights under the updated privacy policy.
“Google’s conduct came to our attention as a result of our work on the Digital Platforms Inquiry. We took this case because we were concerned that Google was not adequately providing consumers with clear and transparent information about how it collects and uses consumer data,” ACCC acting chair Delia Rickard said.
“We will now carefully consider the judgment.”
Of the outcome, a Google spokesperson said: ““We are pleased with today’s decision, which dismissed the ACCC’s allegations.”
Earlier this year, Google LLC was made to pay 60 million in penalties for misleading representations to consumers about the collection and use of their personal location data on Android phones, following court action launched by the ACCC in October 2019.
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