Google Hit With Historic US$57 Million GDPR Fine
Considered the first of its kind for a US tech company, Google has been slammed with a 50 million euro (US$56.8 million) fine for violating France’s new GDPR data privacy laws.
French data protection agency CNIL asserts the fine penalises Google for not being clear about the way user data relates to personalised advertisements.
The news is the first major violation of Europe’s new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), after taking effect last year.
Google has been fined for failing to fully disclose how personal information is collected, and dealt with.
The search engine giant has also been slammed for not properly obtaining user consent in regards to displaying personalised ads.
As the United States lacks a similar federal consumer privacy law, Europe has sought to emerge a global champion of consumer digital rights.
Google has advised it’s “studying the decision” to determine next steps.
The news comes after French regulators commenced its investigation into Google on May 25, 2018 – the day GDPR rules took affect.
Additional privacy complaints have been submitted by activists against Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp in other European Union countries.
Further information is available on CNIL’s website here.