Google to pay $2.6 million to settle Israeli class actions over location tracking
Google will transfer the money to Israel’s Class Action Fund after lawsuits alleged it continued collecting users’ location data even after location services or Location History had been disabled.
The Tel Aviv District Court on Tuesday approved settlement agreements in two consolidated class action lawsuits against Google over allegations that the company unlawfully collected users’ location data on devices running Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS operating systems without their informed consent.
Under the terms of the settlements, which were reached solely as a compromise and without any admission of liability, Google will pay a total of approximately NIS 8.3 million (about $2.6 million), or roughly NIS 4 million ($1.3 million) for each proceeding. The funds will be transferred to the Class Action Fund and earmarked for initiatives aimed at protecting privacy.
The lawsuits, filed in 2017 and 2022, alleged that Google continued to track users’ locations for advertising and commercial purposes even after they had disabled location services or the “Location History” function on their devices.
Google sought to have the lawsuits dismissed and denied the allegations, arguing that it provides users with clear and transparent information about how the relevant functions operate and allows them to control their privacy settings.
The parties subsequently entered into mediation, which resulted in settlement agreements in both proceedings.
In addition to the monetary compensation, Judge Rachel Barkai noted that the settlements include a series of non-monetary measures. Some of these measures have already been implemented in the U.S. and Israel, while Google has committed to implementing the remaining measures following court approval.
The measures include sending emails to users, displaying a banner, and providing links to an information page, all aimed at increasing transparency around Google’s collection and use of location data.
The plaintiffs in the two class actions were represented separately by Adv. Amit Manor of the Amit Manor-Yuki Shemesh law firm and Adv. Elran Shapira Bar-Or.
A Google spokesperson said in response: “We reached a settlement in these cases, which concern features that are no longer relevant.”
