In a press release dated January 19, the National Commission for Information Technology and Liberties (CNIL) informs that it has sanctioned Yahoo! a fine of 10 million euros, notified at the end of December. The CNIL criticizes the American group for having tracked its users on its Yahoo.com portal using around twenty cookies when they had asked not to be tracked.
Cookies are digital trackers placed by websites on the user’s device. They are used to identify them persistently, to save their basket of items or their preferences, and to offer them targeted advertising.
Triggered by twenty-seven complaints, this investigation allowed, according to the CNIL, to note another breach affecting Yahoo Mail messaging: when an Internet user wanted to withdraw their consent to advertising tracking, the company informed them, according to the CNIL’s findings. , that his action would cause him to lose access to his box.
Since the entry into force of the European regulation on personal data (GDPR) in 2018, websites are required to respect stricter rules to obtain the consent of Internet users before placing their cookies. Google, Meta (Facebook), Amazon, Microsoft, Apple and recently TikTok have all been sanctioned by the authority, for a total amount of around 400 million euros.