Google reportedly never stops sharing your location, even if you turn off location sharing

Google has been accused of sharing users’ locations despite users’ turning off location sharing, a new lawsuit filed against the search giant revealed.

Google has been accused of sharing users’ locations despite users’ turning off location sharing. A new lawsuit has been filed against Google by four attorneys general of three US states and led by District of Columbia Attorney General Karl A. Racine (D). The lawsuit has alleged that Google has deceived consumers about how their location is tracked and used by the company and consumers’ ability to protect their privacy by stopping the tracking.

The lawsuit alleges that Google makes users believe that they are in full control of what part of their data is being collected by the company and how Google uses the information. However, it has been found that the users who use Google products cannot stop Google from collecting, storing, and profiting from their location. The report further states that to grow its business further, Google harvests consumers’ personal data, including location data, when consumers use Google products. The company then uses the data to target advertisements to consumers.

“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. The truth is that contrary to Google’s representations, it continues to systematically surveil customers and profit from customer data,” said DC Attorney General Karl Racine in a statement.

Google has also been accused of having a powerful financial incentive to “conceal the details of its location data collection practices and to make it difficult for consumers to opt-out of being tracked.”

Reacting to the lawsuit, Google's spokesperson denied the claims made in the lawsuit. “The attorneys general are bringing a case based on inaccurate claims and outdated assertions about our settings.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,” said Google policy spokesperson José Castañeda was quoted by The Verge.