France slams Google, Facebook with massive fines over 'cookies'
The fines were imposed as the companies did not allow users to "refuse the use of cookies as simply as to accept them."
The two platforms have three months to adapt their practices.
French regulators have hit Google and Facebook with $237 million (210 million euros) in fines over their use of "cookies", the data used to track users online.
Google got a 169-million-dollar fine while Facebook was handed a 68-million-dollar fine, France's National Commission for Information Technology and Freedom (CNIL) said on Thursday.
"CNIL has determined that the sites facebook.com, google.fr and 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 will impose fines of $113 thousand per day, CNIL added.
The 169-million-dollar fine imposed on Google was a record by CNIL, beating a previous cookie-related fine of 121 million dollars against the company in December 2020.
"In accordance with the expectations of internet users... we are committed to implementing new changes, as well as to working actively with CNIL in response to its decision," Google said in a statement.
READ MORE: France watchdog fines Google $267M for favouring own ads over rivals’
Consent for cookies
Cookies are little packets of data that are set up on a user's computer when they visit a website, allowing web browsers to save information about their session.
They are highly valuable for Google and Facebook as ways to personalise advertising their primary source of revenue.
But privacy advocates have long pushed back and a European Union law passed in 2018 placed strict rules on internet companies.
This law obliged companies to seek the direct consent of users before installing cookies on their computers.
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