Google will have to pay 40 states a total close to $400 million as part of a settlement over its location tracking practices, the office of Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum announced Monday.Rosenblum and Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson led an investigation into the multinational technology company headquartered in Mountain View, Calif.Eventually, they found that Google had violated state consumer protection laws by misleading consumers with confusing settings since at least 2014.“In addition to the multimillion-dollar settlement, as part of the negotiations with the AGs, Google has agreed to significantly improve its location tracking disclosures and user controls starting in 2023.”Google uses location data and other personal data to deliver targeted advertisements to users.Consumers thought they had turned off their location tracking features on Google, but the company continued to secretly record their movements and use that information for advertisers.”In addition to $391.5 million in payments, Google is now required to make key information about location tracking unavoidable (not hidden) for users and to give users detailed information about the types of location data Google collects and how it’s used at an enhanced “Location Technologies” webpage."