- France’s CNIL has fined Google €325 million, and given it six months to change
- 53 million French Gmail users were getting email-like ads in Gmail
- 74 million French Google account users were pushed to accept cookies
France’s data protection authority, the National Commission on Informatics and Liberty (CNIL), has fined Google €325 million for unlawful advertising and cookie practices.
CNIL found the company's Gmail email service “displayed advertisements in the form of emails among the emails in the ‘Promotions’ and ‘Social’ tabs” without the correct user consent under the French Postal and Electronic Communications Code, affecting 53 million French Gmail users.
Users were also steered towards accepting personalized advertising cookies, with no clear information that cookies were a condition for accessing Google services, affecting over 74 million French accounts and breaching the French Data Protection Act.
Google hit with €325 million French data privacy fine
The fine was brought on by an August 2022 None Of Your Business (NOYB) complaint – a Vienna NGO that focuses on enforcing GDPR and other related privacy laws against Big Tech.
This was subsequently followed by a months-long series of investigations by CNIL into Google’s Gmail ads and Google account creation processes.
Along with the fine, CNIL ordered Google to stop Gmail ads without consent and ensure valid cookie consent during account creation within six months. Failure to do so will result in a €100,000 daily penalty thereafter.
It’s not the first time that Google has had a running with France’s CNIL. It received €100 million and €150 million fines in 2020 and 2021 over issues relating to cookies.
However, it’s not just Google that faces CNIL pressure surrounding cookies. Shein was hit with a €150 million fine on the same day over using cookies on 12 million monthly users’ devices in France with no valid consent, poor withdrawal options and inadequate transparency.
Google told TechRadar Pro: "People have always been able to control the ads they see in our products. Over the last two years, as the CNIL has acknowledged, we made additional updates to address their concerns, including an easy way to decline personalized ads in one click when creating a Google account, and changes to the way ads are presented in Gmail. We’re reviewing the decision."
Google also noted that, while ads help to keep its free products free, three in four French users see no Gmail ads at all.
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