Three states and District of Columbia sue Google, alleging it lied about location tracking

Four attorneys general are suing Google, alleging the internet giant manipulated users into handing over personal data and lied about users' ability to turn off location tracking.

The lawsuit, led by Karl Racine, the District of Columbia's attorney general, claims that Google lied to users about how much location data it was collecting, and used "misleading, ambiguous and incomplete" settings to confuse people and trick them into handing over valuable location information. Those tactics are against state consumer protection laws, the suit alleges.

"[S]ince at least 2014, Google has systematically deceived consumers about how their locations are tracked and used and has misled consumers to believe that they can control what information Google collects about them," Racine's office said in a statement. "In reality, there is effectively no way for consumers to prevent Google from collecting, storing and profiting from their location data."