A U.S. District Court has upheld a $92 million fine against T-Mobile TMUS -1.84%↓ for allegedly sharing customer location data without their consent. This ruling follows a 2024 Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decision that found T-Mobile and Sprint violated privacy laws by selling real-time geolocation information to data aggregators, who then distributed it to third parties, including bail-bond companies and bounty hunters.
The court rejected T-Mobile’s appeal, which argued that the FCC misinterpreted the law and violated its rights. The company claimed it ceased sharing location data more than six years ago. However, Judge Florence Pan emphasized that T-Mobile and Sprint had a duty to protect customer location information from misuse by third parties and failed to take prompt action even after becoming aware of serious abuses.
T-Mobile is not the only carrier facing consequences for similar violations. In 2024, the FCC fined AT&T T -1.54%↓ $57 million and Verizon VZ -0.98%↓ $47 million for similar offenses.
