Google, Facebook fined by France data protection watchdog over cookie consent violations
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Alphabet's (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:FB) Facebook are being fined by France's data protection regulator, with the government agency saying the two tech giants have violated cookie consent laws.
The Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertÃ©s, or CNIL, has fined Google approximately $170 million, or 150 million Euros, and Facebook approximately $68 million, or 60 million Euros. The fines stem from how these companies are violating Article 82 of the French Data Protection Act and how they present tracking cookies.

During their investigation, the CNIL said it found "the websites facebook.com, google.fr and youtube.com offer a button allowing the user to immediately accept cookies. However, they do not provide an equivalent solution (button or other) enabling the Internet user to easily refuse the deposit of these cookies. Several clicks are required to refuse all cookies, against a single one to accept them."
Alphabet (GOOGL) shares are slightly higher in early Thursday trading to $2,756.79, while Meta Platforms (FB) are are also slightly higher, trading at $324.62.
Both Google (GOOGL) and Facebook (FB) have three months in order to comply and fix the issues or they will be fined an additional 100,000 Euros per day.
The CNIL adds that refusing cookies should be as easy as accepting them and both companies have not made that possible, something they are supposed to do under the law.
Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google and has been fined by France's regulatory before, fining Google 100 million Euros in December 2020, along with fining Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) 35 million Euros at the same time.
On Wednesday, Meta Platforms (FB) was reported to have stopped developing its own operating system for its AR/VR headset in favor of Android, but the company later denied the report.