Google Fined €325M by French Regulator for Privacy Violations

Google has been fined €325 million by French regulator CNIL for privacy violations related to tracking cookies and personalised advertising. The regulator said the issue affected an estimated 74 million Gmail users in France and ruled that cookies were a prerequisite for accessing services, creating a misleading impression if users declined them.

The company was ordered to cease serving Gmail ads without user consent within six months and to implement explicit cookie consent prompts during account creation, with fines of €100,000 per day if the deadline is missed. Google said users can control the ads they see and noted updates over the past two years, including a one-click option to reject personalised ads during account creation.

This sanction adds to prior French penalties in 2020 and 2021, when the CNIL fined Google €100 million and €150 million respectively for similar cookie violations, while Shein was fined €150 million for comparable infractions in the same period, according to CNIL figures. according to CNIL (National Commission on Informatics and Liberty).