Alphabet's Google will pay about $400 million to settle a complaint brought by a group of states over allegations the search and advertising giant illegally tracked users' locations, two people familiar with the matter said.
The announcement will come as early as Monday, the sources
said.
The lawsuit, which includes Oregon, the people said, is a
sign of mounting legal headaches for the tech company from state attorneys
general who have aggressively targeted the firm's user tracking practices in
recent months.
Arizona filed a similar case against Google and settled it
for $85 million in October 2022.
Texas, Indiana, Washington State and the District of
Columbia sued Google in January over what they called deceptive
location-tracking practices that invade users' privacy.
Google and Oregon did not immediately respond to requests
for comment.
Google had revenue of $111 billion from advertising in the first half of this
year, more than any other seller of online ads. A consumer's location is key to
helping an advertiser cut through the digital clutter to make the ad more
relevant and grab the consumer's attention.
Earlier last month, it was reported that the European
anti-trust regulators are investigating Alphabet unit Google's Play Store, the
company said in a regulatory filing, a move that could expose the US tech giant
to another billion-euro fine.
Over the last decade, Google has incurred EUR 8.25 billion in
EU antitrust fines following three investigations into its business practices.
EU antitrust regulators are investigating whether Google's
threat to remove apps from its Play Store if app developers use other payment
options instead of its own billing system has hurt the developers, two people
familiar with the matter told Reuters in August.
Fees charged by Google and Apple at their mobile app stores
have drawn criticism from developers who say they are excessive. © Reuters