Google settles Safari privacy case for more than $22 million

Google is said to be on the verge of reaching a settlement for circumventing the privacy settings of users of Apple’s Safari browser. The search giant would pay $22.5 million to the Federal Trade Commission for this.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Google and the Federal Trade Commission are on the brink of a settlement for circumventing Safari users’ privacy settings. Earlier this year, it was revealed that ad companies, including Google, were bypassing Safari’s do-not-track protections. It has been rumored for some time that Google was facing a hefty fine, but it now appears that it will reach a settlement.

The loophole that Google used made it possible to place a third-party cookie, even if the user had blocked it in Safari’s settings. CNet reports that Google violated a previous settlement with the FTC, which requires the user to provide “explicit consent” to the placement of third-party cookies. The FTC has launched an investigation into this.

Google says in a response to CNet it can say “nothing specific” about the ongoing investigation. A Google spokesperson does say that the privacy violation took place via ‘a help page from 2009’. “That’s more than two years before our deal with the FTC and a year before Apple changed its cookie policy. We’ve updated the page and are no longer placing cookies,” the spokesperson said.