Google told to pay $22.5m for Safari privacy invasion

Google will pay $22.5m (€17.84m) to settle charges that it bypassed the privacy settings of customers using Apple’s Safari browser, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said yesterday.

The deal ends a FTC probe into allegations that Google used computer codes known as “cookies” to trick the Safari browser on iPhones and iPads so the internet search firm could monitor users who had blocked such tracking.

The practice was in violation of a 2011 consent decree Google negotiated with the commission over its botched rollouts of the now defunct social network Buzz.

Google was not required to admit to any liability.

While it was the largest penalty the FTC has ever placed on a company for violating a commission order, the fine is a drop in the ocean for a company that chalked up revenues of $12.21bn in the second quarter.

“No matter how big or small, all companies must abide by FTC orders against them and keep their privacy promises to consumers, or they will end up paying many times what it would have cost to comply in the first place,” said FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz.

Google will also have to disable the cookies that ended up on consumers’ computers, despite the firm’s assurances it was not placing cookies.

Google is also the subject of a wide-ranging antitrust investigation by the FTC and European regulators over accusations it manipulated search results to favour its own products.