France’s CNIL data privacy watchdog said Thursday it had fined two Google units a total of 100 million euros and an Amazon subsidiary 35 million euros over advertising cookies.
The regulator said the fines were “for having placed advertising cookies on the computers of users … without obtaining prior consent and without providing adequate information”.
A cookie is a small piece of data stored on a user’s computer browser that allows websites to identify users and remember their previous activity.
The CNIL found the French websites of Google and Amazon didn’t seek the prior consent of visitors before advertising cookies were saved on computers, it said in a statement.
Google and Amazon also failed to provide clear information to internet users about how the two firms intended to make use of such online trackers and how visitors of their French websites could refuse any use of the cookies, the watchdog said.
Insufficient privacy and cookie information
Google was faulted for providing insufficient privacy information for users as it did not let them know about the cookies which had been placed and that the procedure to block them still left one operational.
CNIL also said Amazon had not provided clear or complete information about the cookies it placed on computers of users until a redesign in September 2020.
Google also stopped placing cookies on the computers of users without consent in September, CNIL said, but added it still does not provide a sufficient explanation for their use.
The regulator said “no matter what path the users used to visit the website, they were either insufficiently informed or never informed of the fact that cookies were placed on their computer”.
The 35-million-euro ($42-million) fine is on the Amazon Europe Core subsidiary.
CNIL imposed fines of 60 million euros on Google LLC and 40 million euros on Google Ireland Limited.
The financial penalty against Google is the biggest ever issued by the CNIL, a spokesman for the watchdog said.
The previous record fine of 50 million euros also targeted the US tech giant for breaching European Union data privacy rules.
Google stands by its record, Amazon disagrees with decision
Responding to the announcement on Thursday said, “We stand by our record of providing upfront information and clear controls, strong internal data governance, secure infrastructure, and above all, helpful products.”
“Today’s decision under French ePrivacy laws overlooks these efforts and doesn’t account for the fact that French rules and regulatory guidance are uncertain and constantly evolving,” Google said in a statement.
Amazon said separately it disagreed with CNIL’s decision.
“We continuously update our privacy practices to ensure that we meet the evolving needs and expectations of customers and regulators and fully comply with all applicable laws in every country in which we operate,” it said.
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