MILANO – The giants of the web are back in the sights of the control authorities in France. CNIL, the supervisory body on the protection of personal data, has imposed heavy fines – 150 and 60 million euros respectively – on Google and Facebook for their practice of using “cookies”, the tracking strings used to send advertising based on user preferences. The amount of the fine imposed on Google – 150 million euros – is an all-time record for CNIL, which exceeds that of 100 million again against Google and for the same reason, dating back to December 2020.
Facebook and Google now have three months to make corrections, on pain of paying another 100,000 euros for each day of delay, the French commission added. Google said it would change its policy following the new fine: “We are committed to further changes, as well as to actively work with the CNIL in response to its decision, in accordance with the ePrivacy directive,” said the US giant. .
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In 2018, the European Union adopted a personal data regulation with stricter rules. When users open a website, they receive a warning to specifically authorize the use of cookies, to partially modify their use or simply not to accept them. But the French CNIL criticizes that it is difficult to completely refuse the use of cookies. “The sites facebook.com, google.fr and youtube.com offer a button that allows you to immediately accept cookies”, while to reject them completely, he explains, “several clicks are required”
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