“Accept” Where “refuse”. While surfing the Internet, users most of the time have the option of allowing or not allowing “cookies”, tools used by websites to collect information about users. Some digital giants, however, opt for rather opaque practices. The National Commission for Informatics and Liberties (Cnil), an agency guarding the privacy of the French, has thus “Noted” than the sites of Facebook, Google and YouTube “do not allow” to refuse cookies “As simply” than when we accept them.
“The facebook.com, google.fr and youtube.com websites offer a button to immediately accept cookies”, explained the public agency. In contrast, “Several clicks are necessary to refuse all cookies”, she denounced elsewhere.
For these facts, the CNIL announced this Thursday to impose heavy fines, respectively 150 and 60 million euros on Google and Facebook. The amount of the fine imposed on Google is a record in all categories concerning the sanctions imposed by the CNIL, in front of a previous fine of 100 million euros, already on Google, in December 2020, and still because of cookies.
Google response
The two platforms now have three months to become compliant. Otherwise, “The companies will each have to pay a fine of 100,000 euros per day of delay”, specified the CNIL. Google has already announced in a press release that it will change its practices. “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, within the framework of the directive [européenne] ePrivacy “, thus assured the American group.
Widely used by websites, cookies are small computer files used to carry out targeted advertising, based on the preferences and habits of visitors. They thus allow the sites to trace the user’s navigation, in order to be able to send him personalized advertising related to his areas of interest. They are regularly denounced for the breaches of the privacy of Internet users that they may cause.
Since the entry into force of the European regulation on personal data in 2018, websites are therefore required to comply with stricter rules to obtain the consent of Internet users before placing their cookies.