By Nawal Sayed
CAIRO, Jan. 22 (SEE) – French regulators fined Google 50 million euros
($57 million) for breaching European Union online privacy rules, the biggest
such penalty levied against a U.S. tech giant, according to media reports.
France's data protection watchdog known as CNIL
said Monday that Google failed to fully disclose to users how their personal
information is collected.
The French watchdog accused the world's biggest
search engine of lacking transparency and clarity in the way it informs users
about its handling of personal data and failed to properly obtain their consent
for personalized ads.
"The amount decided, and the publicity of
the fine, are justified by the severity of the infringements observed regarding
the essential principles of the GDPR: transparency, information and
consent," the CNIL said in a statement.
On its part, Google issued a statement
saying that people "expect high standards of transparency and control from
us. We’re deeply committed to meeting those expectations and the consent
requirements of the GDPR.”
The CNIL decision follows complaints by two
non-governmental organizations, None Of Your Business (noyb) and La Quadrature
du Net (LQDN), which the regulator said had been mandated by 10,000 people to
present the case, according to Reuters report published on Tuesday.
“More
than just a significant amount of money, this sanction is particularly
detrimental to Google as it directly challenges its business model
and will, in all likelihood, require them to deeply modify their provision of
services," Sonia Cissé, Managing Associate at Linklaters told Reuters.
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