Google has been fined 50 million Euros ($57 million USD) by the French data regulator CNIL for violating data protection rules mandated by the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.
Two complaints were filed by separate, non-profit privacy rights groups - None of Your Business (noyb) and La Quadrature du Net (LQDN) - on the day GDPR went into effect, May 25th, 2018.
CNIL said that the fine was levied on January 21st, 2019 was for “lack of transparency, inadequate information and lack of valid consent regarding ads personalization,” specifically during the onboarding process for new Android users.
Part of the alleged violations regarding consent include “pre-ticking” the option to personalize ads, and they did not make clear to users that this covered many other services such as YouTube and Google Maps.
Other alleged violations include having a box checked by default that reads “I agree to the processing of my information as described above and further explained in the Privacy Policy.” Also, according to the allegations, “essential information” was “disseminated across several documents,” sometimes requiring several clicks to access.
The GDPR was implemented across the European Union on May 25th, 2018, to help safeguard users’ data in the digital age. Read more about the changes and how MIMICS can help HERE.