The French regulator plans to impose a EUR210 million fine on Meta Platforms Inc. (Facebook) and Alphabet Inc. (Google) for violating the country’s data privacy rules, according to media reports. The “Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés” (CNIL) plans to fine Meta/Facebook EUR60 million and Alphabet/Google EUR150 million “for failing to allow French users to easily reject cookie tracking technology.” In addition, once the supervisory authority announces the decision, and if technology companies fail to resolve the issue within three months, they will face an additional fine of EUR100,000 a day.
In September 2021, the regulator fined WhatsApp, Meta’s messaging service, EUR225 million “for not being transparent about how it shared data with its parent company,” according to media reports.