Google has decided to strengthen its privacy settings by automatically deleting, after 18 months, the search and location history of its new customers, announced Wednesday its CEO Sundar Pichai.
While heavy fines have been imposed on Facebook and Google for privacy violations in recent years, the American internet giant hopes to boost user confidence by introducing this modification, which will be effective as of Wednesday.
"Keep less data by default"
"We think that products should only keep your information for as long as it is useful to you," said Sundar Pichai in a blog post, adding that it was "keeping less data by default". .
When you create a new Google Account, "your activity data will be automatically and continuously deleted after 18 months, instead of being kept until you choose to delete it," he explained. . Current users can already choose to automatically delete their data every three or 18 months, but they will now be reminded of the option.
"Privacy is at the heart of what we do"
Smartphone tracking technology has been the focus of attention since the coronavirus pandemic, which prompted governments to develop apps for tracking infected people, raising concerns about privacy and freedoms.
Sundar Pinchai, who also heads Alphabet, Google’s parent company, said "privacy is at the heart of everything we do" in his blog post. He detailed other changes, including easier access to privacy settings in apps and safer "incognito" mode.
New users of YouTube, a Google affiliate, will also have their search data automatically deleted after 36 months, said Pinchai.