Google has beaten the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) in the Federal Court over allegations the tech company misled consumers over its privacy policy and data collection to improve its advertising product.
The ACCC alleged that, in June 2016, Google had misled Australian consumers when it published an on-screen notification to users and changed its privacy policy to expand the scope of its collection and use of personal data.
The ACCC said that the notification was misleading because, when users clicked “I agree” in response to the notification, it allowed Google to combine personal information in a user’s Google account with information about their activity on non-Google sites that used Google technology to display ads — at the time, the tech was known as DoubleClick.
In effect, this meant that previously separate internet tracking data was linked to an individual user’s name and other identifying information.
The ACCC also said that changes to the privacy policy reduced the rights of account holders’ without obtaining their explicit consent.
However, following charges that were filed in July 2020, the Federal Court ruled in Google’s favour. It said the tech company sought the consent of account holders to implement the changes and only implemented them once explicit consent had been obtained.
“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,” said ACCC acting chair Delia Rickard said.
“We will now carefully consider the judgment.”
However, the court found that Google “before the June 2016 Privacy Update, Google did not associate DoubleClick cookie information with personally identifiable information in Account Holders’ Google Accounts. This remained (and remains) the position after the June 2016 Privacy Update.
“There has been no change in Google’s practice in that regard. Thus, the Commission’s factual proposition that Google has reduced Account Holders’ privacy rights as a consequence of deleting the DoubleClick Statement is not made out in the evidence.”
In a statement, Google said that it was “pleased” with the decision. The ACCC will now have to pay Google’s legal fees.
