Google Settles Arizona User Privacy Lawsuit For $85M

Alphabet Inc GOOG GOOGL Google will pay the state of Arizona $85 million to settle a 2020 lawsuit for allegedly deceiving users by recording their locations even after they tried to turn off the company’s tracking on their smartphones and web browsers.
Google used the location information to sell ads for billions of dollars in profits, the Wall Street Journal reports, citing Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich.
The bulk of the settlement money will go toward a general fund in the state.
Also Read: Google Under DOJ Scanner For Splurging To Maintain Search-Engine Dominance
Google denied any wrongdoing. Google courted similar lawsuits from Indiana, Texas, Washington state courts, and Washington, D.C.
The European Union’s General Court in Luxembourg largely upheld a 2018 decision by the EU competition regulator that fined Google $4.33 billion for allegedly abusing the market dominance of its Android operating system for mobile phones.
Separately, a federal judge in the U.S. denied the bulk of Google’s motion to dismiss the claims brought by a coalition of states alleging Google abused its dominance in digital advertising tools.
Google held $125 billion in cash and equivalents as of June 30.
Price Action: GOOG shares traded lower by 0.87% at $100.76 in the premarket on the last check Wednesday.