By Padraic Halpin
DUBLIN, Sept 21 (Reuters) - The lead EU data privacy regulator for most of the biggest internet companies fined Alphabet's Google search engine €403 million ($463 million) after an inquiry into its processing of location data, Ireland's Data Protection Commission said on Monday.
The Irish watchdog found that Google infringed European Union privacy rules known as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) through three of its specific features – 'Web & App Activity', 'Location History'
and 'Location Accuracy' — from 2018 to 2020.
It was the fourth largest fine of the more than €4 billion in total levied by the DPC since it became the lead EU regulator for most big US tech firms under the strict 2018 GDPR due to the location of companies' EU operations in Ireland.
Google was also ordered by the DPC to bring its processing into compliance within six months. The company did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
"As a result of Google's failures, individuals could have been unaware that their location was being used to, for example, influence them with ads or to infer their interests, and could lose control over their personal data," DPC Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said in a statement.
"The retention of users' location data for longer than necessary aggravated this loss of control."
The DPC opened the inquiry in 2020 following complaints from several European consumer rights organisations, including the pan-European consumers' organisation BEUC, regarding Google's processing of location data.
The infringements included the lawfulness and fairness of Google's processing of location data in 'Web & App Activity', an account setting that processes information related to users’ activity on Google services, and 'Location History', which keeps track of users' location through mobile devices.
Google is subject to three other ongoing statutory inquiries, all of which are at an advanced stage, the DPC added.
($1 = 0.8712 euros)
(Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Paul Sandle, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Jan Harvey)
