Google and Amazon have been fined a combined €135million by the French data protection regulator for breaches relating to the use of cookies.
The Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL) announced yesterday that Amazon has fined Google a total of €100m and Amazon €35m.
The complaints against the two tech giants are similar. In both, CNIL found they had placed cookies on devices without prior consent, when they visited either company’s French website.
CNIL said that information on cookies provided to visitors to Amazon’s French website was “neither clear, nor complete.”
It also criticised the lack of clarity on the google.fr website, saying the page only contained “general and approximate” information regarding the purpose of cookies placed.
A spokesperson for Amazon said: “We continuously update our privacy practices to ensure that we meet the evolving needs and expectations of customers and regulators and fully comply with all applicable laws in every country in which we operate.”
A spokesperson for Google said: “We stand by our record of providing upfront information and clear controls, strong internal data governance, secure infrastructure, and above all, helpful products.
“Today’s decision under French ePrivacy laws overlooks these efforts and doesn’t account for the fact that French rules and regulatory guidance are uncertain and constantly evolving.”
CNIL has given the two companies three months to change the information banners displayed on their websites.
If they do not comply, they will be fined a further €100,000 per day until the changes are made.
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