Google and Facebook have been used for 210 million euros ($237 million) by French regulators over their use of “cookies”, the data used to track users online, authorities revealed on Thursday.
Tech giants such as Apple and Amazon, have come under growing pressure over their businesses practices across Europe, where they have faced massive fines and plans to impose far-reaching EU rules on how they operate.
The 150-million-euro fine imposed on Google was a record by France’s National Commission for Information Technology and Freedom (CNIL), beating a previous cookie-related fine of 100 million euros against the company (Google) in December 2020.
Facebook was handed a 60-million-euro fine.
“CNIL has determined that the sites facebook.com, google.fr and (Google-owned) youtube.com do not allow users to refuse the use of cookies as simply as to accept them,” the regulatory body said.
The two platforms have three months to adapt their practices, after which France will impose fines of 100,000 euros per day, CNIL added.
