The data protection authorities of EU members have now declared war on tech corporations like Google and Facebook. Now France’s data protection authority has ordered the two U.S. companies from Silicon Valley to pay a fine in the millions. The focus is on the cookie policy of the companies.
Rejection of cookies must become easier
The French data protection authority CNIL bases its multi-million fine on the integration of cookies at Google and Facebook. Put simply, it must become easier to reject cookies, it said. Indeed, there is currently an unjustifiable imbalance between acceptance and rejection, according to the CNIL. While it is child’s play to accept the collection of cookies, to reject them you first have to click through forms that are incomprehensible to laypeople. The penalties, meanwhile, vary widely. While Facebook was obliged to pay a fine of 60 million euros, Google must pay a total of 150 million euros.
The click count may not differ
Surely you have all accepted or rejected cookies at some point. While you can confirm acceptance with one click, in contrast you have to press the mouse button several times to reject them. The CNIL sees this as restricting the freedom to consent. In the course of this, the authority describes the procedure as a violation of applicable French law. For this reason, the data protection authorities have put the gun to Facebook’s and Google’s heads, so to speak. Within three months, both tech companies are to adapt the cookie consent query accordingly. Should they not comply with this request, 100,000 euros per day in further fines will be incurred.
Facebook and Google show themselves agreeable
Of course, such regulatory decisions are poison for the reputation of the two US companies. Accordingly, both Facebook and Google are showing openness to change. Before this happens, Meta, Facebook’s parent company, wants to thoroughly review the CNIL’s arguments. In a statement from the company, they also make it clear once again what advantages the current state of cookie consent has. For example, although you have to click several times to refuse, you can make individual settings. Since trust is becoming increasingly important in this market segment and people are now paying more and more attention to the protection of their personal data, cooperative behavior must also be urged on the two big players on the Internet.
Not the first time
Google, by the way, has already made acquaintance with the French data protection authority in the past. A good year ago, this already demanded the payment of a fine in the amount of 100 million euros. Here, too, the cookie policy of the search engine giant and subsidiary of the Alphabet group was in focus.
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