European, US groups plan to resolve privacy complaints against Google

The complaints call for a legal requirement that companies operating in the EU design products with simple privacy protections. In January, France’s privacy regulator fined Google $169 million and Meta Platform Inc.’s Facebook $67 million for related violations, arguing that the companies Made it very difficult for users to refuse cookiesIdentifiers that track their data.

Google uses similar practices across its products, including YouTube, Google Maps, the Android operating system, Gmail and the Google Play store, and does not inform consumers whether their data will be used to create personalized ads, the group says. .

“They can combine all the data to get a very detailed profile and be able to personalize all kinds of content, including targeting advertising,” said David Martin Ruiz, senior legal officer at the European Consumer Organization, a The Brussels-based group that coordinates. Google’s upcoming attempt at data-collection.

On Thursday, groups in Norway, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Greece and France plan to file similar complaints with regulators. In Germany, an advocacy group is writing to Google to warn it could file a lawsuit against it, while groups in Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden are writing to their national authorities to share details on Google’s practices. Privacy regulations across Europe vary by country, requiring some authorities to investigate every formal complaint it receives.

A Google spokesperson said in an emailed statement, “People should be able to understand how data is generated by their use of Internet services. If they don’t like it, they should be able to do something about it.” “

When users create a Google Account, the company presents various options that are designed to be easy to understand, he said. “We are committed to ensuring that these choices are clear and simple,” the spokesperson said.

However, the complainants say that the options are not straightforward. By making it difficult for consumers to refuse to share their data, Google violates so-called privacy-by-design requirements under the European Union’s 2018 General Data Protection Regulation, they argue.

“Privacy by design is what we need, not only in the Google case, but with electric cars, other electronic devices, other user interfaces,” said Boetjan Okorn, head of testing at the Slovene Consumers Association. Regulators need to create an easy way for Google to deny users sharing data across its various platforms, he said.

A coalition of US tech and consumer groups also plans to send a letter to the Federal Trade Commission on Thursday, with similar complaints over Google’s vague language and outlining the time-consuming steps needed to get out of data-sharing. has been done. Kelly Schroeder, digital co-chair for America at Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue, a coalition of advocacy groups, said the practices violate the FTC Act, a law that empowers the agency to stop deceptive practices that harm consumers.

“We think this completely constitutes a manipulative design pattern and is unfair to consumers,” said Ms Schroeder.

Last year, the FTC said it would increase investigations into ways that companies use deceptive tactics to attract customers to their services, then make it harder for them to cancel.

Ms Schroeder said transatlantic consumer dialogue is prompting US regulators to reduce some practices by big tech providers. European law prohibits companies from stopping a service if consumers refuse to provide personal data; He said that there is no such provision in America.

Complaints from European consumer groups will first be sent to the national regulator in their home country, and then forwarded to Ireland. Under the GDPR, the Irish regulator is responsible for monitoring Google’s activities in the European Union as the company has its European headquarters there.

However, consumer advocates say the Irish regulator is slow. In Europe, the regulators of the country where the complaint is made can take steps to ask questions or express dissent. This was a factor in the Irish regulator’s $270 million fine for WhatsApp last September, a complaint first filed in 2018.

Mr Martin Ruiz’s group, the European Consumer Organization, coordinated similar complaints over Google’s location-tracking in 2018 shortly after the EU’s privacy law took effect. The Irish regulator has still not issued a decision.

“We hope the bottleneck is resolved,” said Mr Martin Ruiz.

Google is facing opposition from location-tracking elsewhere. In addition to complaints in Europe, authorities in Australia claimed in 2019 that Google had similarly misled consumers there. In January, three US states and the District of Columbia filed suit It also alleged that Google recorded the locations of users who had opted out.

write to Katherine Stupp Catherine.Stupp@wsj.com