Google fined 403 million euros by Ireland over unlawful tracking of users’ location data

By  News On Air   Sep 22, 2026

Google has been fined 403 million euros by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission for breaking strict European Union privacy rules regarding how it tracks people. Regulators found that between 2018 and 2020, Google unlawfully tracked and processed users’ location information through three main features, its Web & App Activity settings, its Location History mapping tool, and the Location Accuracy feature built into the Android operating system. 

Ireland is the lead regulator for Google in the 27-nation European Union because the US tech giant’s European headquarters is based in Dublin. The Irish watchdog takes the lead on these cases, and this six-year investigation concluded that Google failed to be open, fair, and transparent about how it handles this sensitive data. 

While this is the fourth-largest privacy fine the Irish regulator has ever handed out-behind even bigger penalties given to tech giants like Meta and TikTok, Google’s legal troubles in Europe are far from over, as the watchdog is still actively investigating three other privacy cases involving the company.