The French data protection agency on Thursday fined the companies Google and Facebook 150 million and 60 million euros respectively because of “cookies”, the computer trackers they use for advertising purposes.
The 150 million euros (about US $ 165 million) inflicted on Google represents the largest fine to date in France for this company, which was already sanctioned with another 100 million euros (about US $ 113 million) in December 2020 for the same reasons.
The National Commission for Informatics and Freedoms (CNIL) “has found that the sites facebook.com, google.fr and youtube.com do not allow” to reject “cookies” “just as simply” that, if the user decides to accept them, the statement said.
Facebook and Google (owner of YouTube) have three months to correct this detrimental imbalance for the user, under penalty of paying an additional 100,000 euros (about US $ 113,000) for each day of delay, added the French commission.
Google assured that it was going to change its policy after this new fine, in a statement sent to AFP.
“We commit to apply new changes, as well as to work actively with the CNIL in response to its decision, in accordance with the directive [europea] ePrivacy ”, indicated the American giant.
“Several clicks”
“Cookies” or computer cookies are small files that detect the sites visited by Internet users, which are then the subject of supposedly personalized advertising messages.
This tracking is regularly denounced by consumer defense associations and Internet users.
The European Union approved in 2018 a regulation on personal data with stricter rules. Users receive, when opening an internet page, a notice to specifically authorize the use of “cookies”, to partially modify that use or simply not to accept it.
But the total rejection of computer tracking is difficult, criticizes the French CNIL. “The websites facebook.com, google.fr and youtube.com propose a button that allows you to immediately accept ‘cookies'”, while to reject them completely “several clicks are necessary,” the statement explains.
The French body had given website publishers until April 2021 to adapt to European regulations. In July, the newspaper Le Figaro was the first to suffer the consequences of this tightening, with a fine of 50,000 euros (about US $ 55,000) for the “cookies” used by the business partners of the newspaper’s website.
The commission recently warned that since April it has sent notices to 90 internet sites to modify their devices.
Amazon was also fined in 2020, with 35 million euros (about US $ 39 million) for the same causes.
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