Australian court dismisses suit against Google over personal data use

Australia’s competition regulator said that its lawsuit against Alphabet Inc.’s Google, in which it alleged consumers were misled about the expanded use of personal data for targeted advertising, had been dismissed by a court.

The proceedings, initiated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in July 2020, alleged Google did not explicitly take consent from users about a change made in 2016 that combined personal information in Google accounts with activity on non-Google sites that use its technology to display advertisements.

The Federal Court, however, found that the notification that allowed users to accept policy changes was not misleading since Google “only implemented the steps with their (users’) informed consent,” the regulator said.