The fine for Google is €150 million. Facebook has to pay €60 million. The fine for Google is a new record for the French National Commission for Information Technology and Freedom (CNIL). The previous record was an earlier cookie-related fine of €100 million for the US internet conglomerate in December 2020.
Cookies
According to the CNIL, it is more difficult for users of the Facebook.com, Google.fr and Youtube.com websites to refuse the use of cookies than to accept them. The two companies have three months to adjust their practices. If they fail to do so, additional fines of EUR 100,000 per day will be imposed.
Google said it is “committed to making new changes and actively collaborating with the CNIL.” Facebook has not yet responded.
Track surfing behavior
Cookies are small packets of data that are placed on a user’s computer when they visit a website. By using cookies, companies can track consumer surfing behavior and store information. This information is very valuable to Google and Facebook, who make a lot of money from personalizing ads on websites.