Regulator CNIL said users of the tiktok.com website could not refuse cookies as easily as accepting them, and were not informed in a sufficiently precise manner of the purposes of different cookies.

The watchdog carried out online investigations between May 2020 and June 2022, examining only the TikTok website when not logged in and not the mobile application.

During an inspection in June 2021, CNIL noted that users could accept all cookies with a single button press, but several clicks were required to refuse all cookies. It concluded that this process infringed the freedom of consent of Internet users and constituted a violation of Article 82 of the French Data Protection Act.

TikTok subsequently introduced a “reject all” button in February 2022.

In addition, CNIL found that users were not informed in a sufficiently precise manner of the purposes of the cookies, either on the first-level information banner or in the context of the choice interface accessible after clicking on a link in the banner, leading to further violations of Article 82.

The French regulator therefore imposed a €5 million fine on TikTok UK and TikTok Ireland.