離開
進入《TAIPEI TIMES》 France hits Facebook and Google with ‘cookie’ fines
The corporate logos of Facebook and Google are displayed on a tablet in Lille, France, on Oct. 1, 2019. Photo: AFP
OVERDUE: The National Commission for Information Technology and Freedom had given Internet companies until April last year to adapt to the tighter privacy rules
/ AFP, PARIS
French regulators have hit Google and Facebook Inc with 210 million euros （US$237.5 million） in fines over their use of “cookies,” the data used to track users online, authorities said yesterday.
US tech giants, including Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc, have come under growing pressure over their business practices across Europe, where they have faced massive fines and plans to impose far-reaching EU rules on how they operate.
The fine of 150 million euros imposed on Google was a record by the French National Commission for Information Technology and Freedom （CNIL）, beating a previous cookie-related fine of 100 million euros against the company in December 2020.
Facebook received a fine of 60 million euros.
“The 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 would impose fines of 100,000 euros per day, the CNIL added.
Google said that it would change its practices following the ruling.
“In accordance with the expectations of Internet users ... we are committed to implementing new changes, as well as to working actively with the CNIL in response to its decision,” the US firm said in a statement.
Cookies are little packets of data that are set up on a user’s computer when they visit a Web site, allowing Web browsers to save information about their session.
They are valuable for Google and Facebook as ways to personalize advertising — their primary source of revenue — but privacy advocates have long pushed back.
Since the EU in 2018 passed a law on personal data, Internet companies face stricter rules that oblige them to seek the direct consent of users before installing cookies on their computers.
Google, Facebook and YouTube make it easy to consent to cookies via a single button, whereas rejecting the request requires several clicks, the CNIL said.
It had given Internet firms until April last year to adapt to the tighter privacy rules, saying that they would face sanctions after that date.
French newspaper Le Figaro was the first to be sanctioned, receiving a fine of 50,000 euros in July last year for allowing cookies to be installed by advertising partners without the direct approval of users, or even after they had rejected them.
The CNIL said that it had sent 90 formal notices to Web sites since April.
In 2020, it levied fines of 100 million euros on Google and 35 million euros on Amazon for their use of cookies.
The fines were based on an earlier EU law, the General Data Protection Regulation, with the CNIL saying that the companies had failed to give “sufficiently clear” information to users about cookies.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
