All the times Google forgot not
to be evil
Non-exhaustive list of the privacy/tax/etc. violations committed by Google
2025
Anti-competitive behaviour
Allegations:
For anti-competitive practices in Android Auto.
Country
: Italy ๐ฎ๐น
Settlement
๐ธ: โฌ102M
Tax
Country
: Italy ๐ฎ๐น
Settlement
๐ธ: โฌ326M
2024
Anti-competitive behaviour
Reason:
for violating competition laws.
Country
: Turkey ๐น๐ท
Fine
๐ธ: $75M
Anti-competitive behaviour
Reason:
For anti-competitive practices in online advertising.
Country
: France ๐ซ๐ท
Fine
๐ธ: โฌ26.5M
Anti-competitive behaviour
Reason:
For in-app payment breaches(new window) .
Country
: South Korea ๐ฐ๐ท
Fine
๐ธ: $40.1M
Privacy violation
Reason:
For using pre-selected consent options in its account sign-up process.
Country
: South Korea ๐ฐ๐ท
Fine
๐ธ: $51.7M
Privacy violation
Reason:
For sharing location data.
Country
: South Korea ๐ฐ๐ท
Fine
๐ธ: $2K
Anti-competitive behaviour
Reason:
For not meeting obligations related to hotel searches.
Country
: Turkey ๐น๐ท
Fine
๐ธ: $14.85M
Privacy violation
Allegations:
For tracking and storage of the mobile-device user-location data of nearly 250 million US users.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $62M
Copyright infringement
Reason:
For the training of its LLM models on content from publishers and news agencies, without notifying them.
Country
: France ๐ซ๐ท
Fine
๐ธ: โฌ250M
2023
Anti-competitive behaviour
Allegations:
For overcharging consumers through unlawful restrictions on the distribution of apps on Android devices and unnecessary fees for in-app transactions.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $700M
Anti-competitive behaviour
For running illegal app store monopolies (vs. Epic).
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Privacy violation
Allegations:
For secretly tracking the internet use of millions of people who thought they were doing their browsing privately.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $5B
Unfair labor practices
Allegations:
For policies restraining speech and whistleblowing.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $27M
Anti-competitive behaviour
Allegations:
For not allowing third-party app markers to charge users for purchases without a commission for Google.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $40M
Privacy violation
Allegations:
For tracking peopleโs location data even after they opted out of such tracking by disabling a feature the company called โlocation history'.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $93M
Consumer protection infraction
Allegations:
For deceptive advertisements to promote the Pixel 4 smartphone.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $8M
Unfair labor practices
Allegations:
For having miscalculated overtime pay rates.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $8.4M
2022
Privacy violation
Allegations:
For tracking peopleโs location data even after they opted out of such tracking by disabling a feature the company called โlocation history'.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $392M
Anti-competitive behaviour
Reason:
For refusing to allow third-party payments.
Country
: India ๐ฎ๐ณ
Fine
๐ธ: $113M
Anti-competitive behaviour
Reason:
For leveraging its dominant position in markets such as online search and app store for Android.
Country
: India ๐ฎ๐ณ
Fine
๐ธ: $162M
Privacy violation
Allegations:
For automatically identifing faces in photos and videos uploaded to Photos.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $100M
Privacy violation
Reason:
For not clearly informing users and obtaining their prior consent when collecting and analysing behavioural information to use them for customised advertisements.
Country
: South Korea ๐ฐ๐ท
Fine
๐ธ: $50M
Anti-competitive behaviour
Reason:
For anticompetitive conduct in the digital advertising market.
Country
: European Union ๐ช๐บ / United Kingdom ๐ฌ๐ง
Fine
๐ธ: Potentially โฌ25B
Privacy violation
Reason:
For the illegal collection and use of personal location data.
Country
: Australia ๐ฆ๐บ
Fine
๐ธ: $60M
Privacy violation
Reason:
For frustrating their legal right to erasion of their information (i.e., right to be forgotten).
Country
: Spain ๐ช๐ธ
Fine
๐ธ: โฌ10M
Unfair labor practices
Allegations:
Retaliation against 6 employees for their labor activism.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $??M
Discrimination
Allegations:
For pregnancy discrimination.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $??M
Privacy violation
Reason:
For making it difficult for internet users to refuse cookies.
Country
: France ๐ซ๐ท
Fine
๐ธ: โฌ150M
Privacy violation
The use of Google Analytics violates GDPR.
Country
: Austria ๐ฆ๐น
2021
Tax
Country
: Ireland ๐ฎ๐ช
Settlement
๐ธ: โฌ218M
Anti-competitive behaviour
Reason:
for abusing its โdominantโ position in online advertising.
Country
: France ๐ซ๐ท
Fine
๐ธ: โฌ220M
Discrimination
Allegations:
For pay and hiring discrimination at California, Washington State locations.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $3.8M
2020
Privacy violation
Reason:
For violating the data access right.
Country
: Hungary ๐ญ๐บ
Fine
๐ธ: โฌ29
Privacy violation
Reason:
For not respecting the right to be forgotten of a Belgian citizen, and for lack of transparency in its request form to delist.
Country
: Belgium ๐ง๐ช
Fine
๐ธ: โฌ600K
Privacy violation
Reason:
For not complying with GDPR on its search engine.
Country
: Sweden ๐ธ๐ช
Fine
๐ธ: โฌ7M
2019
Tax
Country
: Australia ๐ฆ๐บ
Settlement
๐ธ: $481M
Privacy violation
Allegations:
For alleged violations of Childrenโs Privacy Law.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $170M
Tax
Country
: France ๐ซ๐ท
Settlement
๐ธ: โฌ1B
Discrimination
Allegations:
For age discriminations.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $11M
Privacy violation
Allegations:
For collecting peopleโs private information through its Street View project. .
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $13M
Privacy violation
Reason:
For lack of transparency, inadequate information and lack of valid consent regarding the ads personalization.
Country
: France ๐ซ๐ท
Fine
๐ธ: โฌ50M
2018
Anti-competitive behaviour
Reason:
For using using its mobile operating system to illegally cement its dominant position in search.
Country
: European Union ๐ช๐บ
Fine
๐ธ: โฌ4.34B
2017
Anti-competitive behaviour
Reason:
For favouring its own shopping service, taking a tough line in the first of three probes of its dominance in searches and smartphone operating systems.
Country
: European Union ๐ช๐บ
Fine
๐ธ: โฌ2.42B
Tax
Country
: Italy ๐ฎ๐น
Settlement
๐ธ: โฌ306M
2016
Tax
Country
: United Kingdom ๐ฌ๐ง
Settlement
๐ธ: ยฃ130M
2014
Privacy violation
Reason:
For not labeling clearly enough the Google StreetView cars.
Country
: Italy ๐ฎ๐น
Fine
๐ธ: โฌ1M
2013
Privacy violation
Allegations:
For bypassing Safari privacy settings.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $17M
Privacy violation
Reason:
For illegally recording information from unsecured Wi-Fi networks.
Country
: Germany ๐ฉ๐ช
Fine
๐ธ: $145K
Privacy violation
Allegations:
For snooping on personal data via Wi-Fi during its Street View mapping project.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $7M
Copyright infringement
Reason:
For scanning Mian Mianโs works for addition to its online library without her permission.
Country
: China ๐จ๐ณ
Fine
๐ธ: $800
2012
Privacy violation
Allegations:
For bypassing Safari privacy settings.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $22.5M
2011
Copyright infringement
Allegations:
For infringing on a Linux patent owned by defunct company Bedrock Computer Technologies.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $5M
2010
Privacy violation
Allegations:
Google Buzz violated several communication privacy laws related to protecting user privacy.
Country
: United States ๐บ๐ธ
Settlement
๐ธ: $8.5M
Copyright infringement
Apologised to Chinese writers for having scanned books under Chinese copyright for its Google Books digital library project.
Country
: China ๐จ๐ณ
2009
Copyright infringement
Reason:
For having digitized, without permission, books (from the book editor: La Martiniรจre) for its Google Books digital library project.
Country
: France ๐ซ๐ท
Fine
๐ธ: โฌ300K