Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Google: Deterring Misleading Conduct in Digital Privacy Policies

Abstract

In Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Google (ACCC v Google) the Australian consumer protection regulator, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), successfully argued that Google engaged in misleading conduct about the steps needed to prevent Google from obtaining consumers’ personal data about their location, contrary to prohibitions in the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). This paper discusses this decision and the implications for enforcement of overreaching privacy policies generally.

Keywords: privacy, nudging, dark patterns, misleading, consumer protection, data tracking