Minnesota to receive a slice of $391.5M multistate settlement with Google

Minnesota will receive $8.25 million in a multistate settlement with Google over the tech firm's location tracking practices.

The payout is a portion of the $391.5 million settlement announced Monday by attorneys general from 40 states.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison joined the joint action after a 2018 Associated Press investigation found the search engine was tracking users even if they had specifically requested Google not to collect that information.

Minnesota's share of the total settlement is 2.1%.

"Big Tech companies need to be clear with us about when they're collecting our location data and what they're using [it] for. They shouldn't be able to collect it when we've told them not to. But this is what Google did," Ellison said in a statement.

The civil settlement of $8.25 million will go into the state's general fund, said John Stiles, deputy chief of staff with the Attorney General's Office.

Location data is an integral part of Google's digital advertising business. The investigation found that Google violated state consumer protection laws by misleading users about its tracking.

Minnesota still has several ongoing cases — some lawsuits, some investigations — against large social media and tech companies.

The state is involved in two other open lawsuits against Google. In 2020, Ellison joined a multistate lawsuit asserting Google operates an illegal monopoly over internet searching. The action looks to "restore a competitive marketplace."

In 2021, Minnesota's attorney general joined litigation alleging Google violated antitrust rules in the way it operates its app store.

The state's chief litigator is also involved in an antitrust lawsuit against Facebook, and separate investigations looking at the impact of Instagram and TikTok on young people.

Last week Ellison's office announced Minnesota was among the states that would benefit from a $16 million settlement with credit monitoring service Experian and mobile phone service provider T-Mobile over data breaches that compromised consumers' personal information.