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Google to delete US users’ location history to abortion clinics
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Privacy first: The logo of the United States’ multinational technology giant Google is seen in this photo taken on Feb. 14, 2020 in Brussels. Google announced on July 1, 2022 that it would soon delete user’s location history on visits to abortion clinics and other places, following the US Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and prompted widespread protests. (AFP/Kenzo Tribouillard)
G
oogle announced on Friday it would delete users' location history when they visit abortion clinics, domestic violence shelters and other places where privacy was sought.
"If our systems identify that someone has visited one of these places, we will delete these entries from [their] Location History soon after they visit," Jen Fitzpatrick, a senior vice president at Google, wrote in a blog post. "This change will take effect in the coming weeks."
Other places from which Google will not store location data include fertility centers, addiction treatment facilities and weight loss clinics.
The announcement comes a week after the United States Supreme Court made the tectonic decision to strip American women of the constitutional right to abortion, leading a dozen states to ban or severely restrict the procedure and prompting mass protests across the country.
Activists and politicians have been calling on Google and other tech giants to limit the amount of information they collected to avoid the data’s use by law enforcement for investigating and prosecuting abortion cases.
Fitzpatrick also sought to reassure users that the company took data privacy seriously.
"Google has a long track record of pushing back on overly broad demands from law enforcement, including objecting to some demands entirely," she wrote.
"We take into account the privacy and security expectations of people using our products, and we notify people when we comply with government demands."
Concerns over smartphone data and reproductive rights arose even before the Supreme Court ruling, when several conservative US states in recent months passed laws that gave members of the public the right to sue doctors who performed abortions, or anyone who helpeed facilitate them.
This led a group of top Democratic lawmakers to send a letter in May to Google chief executive Sundar Pichai, asking him to stop collecting smartphone location data, lest it became "a tool for far-right extremists looking to crack down on people seeking reproductive health care".
