Google will reportedly pay $22.5 million to settle charges
that it bypassed the privacy settings of customers using
Apple's Safari browser, the Wall Street Journal reported,
citing officials briefed on the settlement terms.
The fine would be the largest penalty ever levied on a
single company by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the
Journal said late Monday.
According to the charges, Google hacked past a key privacy
setting on iPhones and iPads and other devices using
Apple's Safari browser and placed tracking cookies on them.
Even if Safari users had blocked cookies, the code helped
Google keep monitoring them.
Google is being also investigated by the European Union to
determine if the company complies with Europe's privacy
laws.