Google will make its largest-ever privacy payout after agreeing to hand over US$391.5mln to 40 US states to settle an action around location tracking.
An investigation was launched after the US news service Associated Press found the search giant, owned by Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG), continued to track location data even after browser users disabled the location history function.
Location data is part of a battery of information Google uses to provide targeted advertising, which generated US$209bn in revenues last year.
The settlement was called a "historic win" by William Tong, the attorney general of Connecticut, one of the states that brought the privacy case.
He said: “Location data is among the most sensitive and valuable personal information Google collects, and there are so many reasons why a consumer may opt out of tracking.”
The search giant for its part said improvements have been made in recent years to the way in which it compiles information, adding, “we have settled this investigation, which was based on outdated product policies that we changed years ago”.