BREAKING: Google is in trouble

I made this post in r/TrueOffMyChest yesterday, and I think it's relevant here. <br><br>tl;dr: Google is being fined $40 million by the Australian government for lying about the amount of private data they collect. <br><br>Google is in big trouble right now. They just lost a huge case in Australia, which is the first of its kind.<br><br>Here’s a brief breakdown:<br><br>Google was fined $40 million AUD by the Australian government for lying about the amount of data they collect. Their argument is that they use third party apps to collect this information.<br><br>What does this mean? It means that if an app you use asks for access to your location, then that information is being sent to Google’s servers. If you use Google Maps, then Google has access to your location. However, if you use Waze, then Google also has access to your location data.<br><br>I put this here because I think this sub has a large amount of tech-savvy people, but it’s still important to stay vigilant when it comes to our data. I know it’s almost impossible to avoid using Google, but it’s better to be informed than not.<br><br>EDIT/UPDATE:<br><br>There is a browser extension called Privacy Badger you can use to stop third party tracking. You can find it in the chrome web store.<br><br>EDIT 2:<br><br>A comment pointed out that this case was settled in late 2021. I found and verified this information, and it appears to be true. I did not realize this when I posted it, and I apologize for presenting this as “breaking”.