Google accused of ‘deceptive, misleading, manipulative’ tactics to track people
- ‘Smartphones are being used for spying on our every move,’ says one of several consumer groups filing complaints against internet giant across Europe
- Complaints accuse Google of violating EU data protection laws through its Android operating system
Seven European consumer groups filed complaints against Google with national regulators on Tuesday, accusing the internet giant of covertly tracking users’ movements in violation of an EU regulation on data protection.
The complaints cited a study by the Norwegian Consumer Council that concluded the internet giant used “deceptive design and misleading information, which results in users accepting to be constantly tracked”.
Council official Gro Mette Moen charged that “Google uses extremely detailed and comprehensive personal data without an appropriate judicial basis, and the data is acquired by means of manipulative techniques”.
Complaints against Google were filed in the Czech Republic, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Slovenia and Sweden.
The scale with which [Google] deceives its users to track and monetise their every move is breathtaking
They are based on the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which took effect in May.