The French Commission on Informatics and Civil Liberties (CNIL) has fined Alphabet-owned Google a record 150 million euros for violating cookie rules. Meta Platforms, which owns Facebook, was fined 60 million euros for the same reason.
The prior consent of Internet users to the use of cookies that help create targeted digital advertising campaigns is high on EU data privacy requirements.
“When you accept cookies, it’s one click away,” said Karin Kiefer, CNIL’s head of data protection and sanctions. “Rejecting cookies should be as easy as accepting them.”
The regulator has stated that the websites facebook.com, google.fr and youtube.com do not make it easy to refuse cookies. Google and Meta have three months to rectify the situation, otherwise they face an additional fine of 100,000 euros for each day of delay.
The previous record-breaking CNIL fine was also imposed on Google . It was in 2020, and the amount of the fine was 100 million euros. The commission then found that French websites Google and Amazon did not ask for prior consent from visitors to store cookies. In addition, Google and Amazon also did not provide users with clear information on how they intend to use the collected data and how they can refuse the use of cookies. According to Kiefer, then the companies made the necessary adjustments to the work of the sites.
