The French government has fined Microsoft 60 million euros for using advertising cookies without user consent.
France’s privacy watchdog has imposed a €60 million ($63.88 million) fine against Microsoft ‘s Irish subsidiary for placing advertising cookies on users’ computers without prior consent. agree, this violates data protection laws in the European Union.
The French National Commission for Technology search and Freedom (CNIL) announced that users who visited the homepage of the Bing engine did not encounter a page that helped them refuse this cookie. The agency examined between September 2020 and May 2021 after receiving a complaint in February 2020, determining that Microsoft sent cookies for the purpose of serving and combating advertising fraud without asking users’ permission, which is prohibited. required by law.
CNIL also covers how Microsoft has set up its options to accept and decline cookies, where there is only one button to perform the accept operation, but two clicks are required to decline the request.
Along with the fine, Microsoft is also required to change its cookie practices within three months or risk facing an additional penalty of 60,000 euros per day for non-compliance.
In response to the Wall Street Journal maker , the Windows said it had made changes to include an option to opt out of advertising cookies.
CNIL’s fines are part of a campaign targeting major tech companies, which previously approved similar penalties against Google’s parent company Alphabet and Meta in January.
Last month, the French government agency also fined electricity suppliers Électricité de France (EDF) and Discord for using weak encryption algorithms to protect passwords and for failing to comply with . GDPR data retention policies .