A Federal Court has rejected allegations by the competition watchdog ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) that Google misled Australian consumers.
The case, brought to court in July 2020 about actions in 2016, centres on a notification to Australian users about the scope of Google’s use and collection of personal data.
The ACCC had alleged that the notification was misleading because it did not adequately inform consumers about changes.
ACCC acting chair Delia Rickard: “Google’s conduct came to our attention as a result of our work on the Digital Platforms Inquiry.
“We took this case because we were concerned that Google was not adequately providing consumers with clear and transparent information about how it collects and uses consumer data.
“We will now carefully consider the judgement.”
The ACCC has been orderd to pay Google's costs.
In June 2016, Google introduced changes which, if a consumer clicked “I agree” in response to the notification, allowed Google to combine personal information in Google accounts with information about their activity on non-Google sites that used Google technology (formerly called DoubleClick technology) to display ads.
This meant that internet tracking data that had previously been kept separate from users’ Google accounts and was not linked to an individual user, was now linked to users’ names and other identifying information.
The ACCC had argued that changes to the privacy policy reduced the rights of account holders’ without obtaining their explicit consent.
However, Justice David Yates told the court: "It is important to understand that Google had told existing Account Holders that it would not reduce their rights under the Privacy Policy without their explicit consent.
"Google did not say that it would not alter the text of its Privacy Policy without the Account Holders’ explicit consent. Google’s internal documents show that it considered the change in text introduced by the June 2016 Privacy Update to be a minor change associated with the explicit consent it was simultaneously seeking from Account Holders to implement the proposed changes referred to in the Notification."
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.