France fines Google and Facebook €210m

Various tech firms have come under scrutiny over their activity in Europe, where they have already faced significant fines.

Google has now been fined €150m while Facebook has been slapped with a €60m fine.

“CNIL has determined that the sites facebook.com, google.fr and (Google-owned) youtube.com do not allow users to refuse the use of cookies as simply as to accept them,” the regulatory body said.

Both platforms have three months to change their practices, after which they will be fined €100,000 a day.

Cookies are important for companies as they allow them to personalise advertising. CNIL said the companies made it very easy to consent to the collection of cookies while rejecting them requires several clicks.