France Fines Facebook & Google $237 Million For Forcing Browser Cookies On Users
Google and Meta (Facebook) were fined $237 million (€210 million) by French authorities on Thursday for their use of "cookies" that track user activity online.
The €150 million on Google set a record in France, beating the previous fine of €100 against Google in December 2020 - also about cookies.
France's National Commission for Information Technology (CNIL) fined Facebook €60 million.?
Why France fined Facebook and Google
The watchdog claims that Facebook.com and Google's two services (including Google.fr and youtube.com) "do not allow users to refuse the use of cookies as simply as to accept them."
If both Facebook and Google do not take course correction measures in three months, France will impose daily fines of €100,000 on both companies.
When any of us visit any website, cookies are stored by web browsers based on packets of data on your computers. This information allows web browsers to store information about our browsing sessions.
Also read:?How Do Browser Cookies Work And Should You Be Really Worried About Them
For both Google and Facebook, cookies are important to provide personalised advertisements - the primary source of their revenue.
CNIL's observations claim that while Google, Facebook, and YouTube allow consenting to cookies very easy (a single click), rejecting cookies requires multiple clicks.
In 2020, France had imposed fines of €100 million and €35 million on Google and Amazon respectively for their use of cookies.
The European Union had passed a law in 2018 to protect personal data, after which companies are under more scrutiny for how their cookies operate. Since April 2020, CNIL has sent 90 formal notices to websites regarding their use of cookies.
Also read:?Facebook Meta Is The Worst Company Of The Year, Says Yahoo Survey
Do you think companies should do better when giving users options, especially about data? Let us know in the comments below.?For more in the world of?technology?and?science, keep reading?Indiatimes.com.??
