Google and Facebook fined in France for infringement on the use of cookies

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The French data protection agency fined the companies Google and Facebook, this Thursday (6), in 150 million (R$ 962.7 million) and 60 million euros (R$ 385 million), respectively, because of the cookies, as online trackers used for advertising purposes are known.

The 150 million euros inflicted on Google represents the biggest fine to date for the company, which had already been penalized 100 million euros (R$ 641.8 million), for the same reason, in December 2020.

The CNIL (National Commission for Information Technology and Liberties) found that the websites facebook.com, google.fr and youtube.com do not allow rejecting cookies as easily as when the user decides to accept them, the statement says.

Facebook and Google, the owner of YouTube, have three months to correct this harmful imbalance for the user, under penalty of paying an additional 100,000 euros for each day of delay, added the French commission.

In a note sent to AFP, Google assured that it will change its policy, after the application of this new fine.

“We are committed to implementing further changes, as well as actively working with the CNIL in response to its decision, in line with the directive. [europeia] ePrivacy”, declared the American giant.

‘Multiple clicks’

Cookies are small files that detect the websites visited by Internet users, which are then targeted by supposedly personalized advertising messages.

This tracking is regularly reported by consumer protection associations and Internet users.

In 2018, the European Union passed a regulation on personal data with stricter rules. When opening a website, users receive a notice to specifically authorize the use of cookies, to partially modify this use, or simply not to accept it.

The total rejection of computer tracking is difficult, criticizes the French CNIL.

“The websites facebook.com, google.fr and youtube.com offer a button that allows you to immediately accept cookies, while to reject them completely, it takes several clicks”, explains the statement.

The French body had given until April 2021 for website publishers to adapt to European regulations. In July, the newspaper Le Figaro was the first to suffer the consequences of this pressure, receiving a fine of 50 thousand euros (R$ 320.9 thousand) for the cookies used by the commercial partners of its site.

The commission recently warned that since April it has sent notices to 90 websites to modify their devices.

Amazon was also fined in 2020, €35 million (around $39 million), for the same reasons.

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