French Data Protection regulator fines Google and Amazon for unlawful use of cookies

French data protection regulator CNIL fined Google and Amazon €100 million and €35 million respectively for breaches of the French Data Protection Act. The CNIL found that the French websites of Google and Amazon had not sought the prior consent of visitors before advertising cookies were saved on computers, and failed to provide clear information to users as to how they intended to make use of online trackers and how to refuse any use of cookies.

In relation to Google, the CNIL made an additional finding that the "opposition" mechanism available on Google's website was partially defective in that deactivating ad personalisation did not fully clear cookies, with one of the advertising cookies still being stored on the computer despite the user's stated objection.

The CNIL gave Google and Amazon three months to change the information banners, subject to an additional 100,000 euro fine.