CNIL Fines Facebook 60 Million Euros due to Cookies

The French Data Protection Authority (“CNIL”) fined the company FACEBOOK IRELAND LIMITED (“Facebook”) 60 million Euros because the users of the social network facebook.com residing in France cannot refuse cookies as easily as to accept them with the decision dated 31 December 2021 and numbered SAN-2021-024.

CNIL conducted an investigation on Facebook’s website and found that, while it offers a button to immediately accept cookies, it does not offer an equivalent solution enabling the user to refuse the deposit of cookies as easily. Several clicks are required to refuse all cookies, as opposed to a single one to accept them.

CNIL noted that making the refusal mechanism more complex actually discourages users from refusing cookies and encourages them to opt for the ease of the consent button for cookies in the first window. It considered that such a process affects the freedom of consent of Internet users.

The restricted committee also considered that the information given by the company is not clear since, in order to refuse the deposit of cookies, Internet users must click on a button entitled "Accept cookies", displayed in the second window. It considered that such a title necessarily generates confusion and that the user may have the feeling that it is not possible to refuse the deposit of cookies and that they have no way to manage it.

The restricted committee judged that the methods of collecting consent proposed to users, as well as the lack of clarity of information provided to them, constitute violations of Article 82 of the French Data Protection Act.

CNIL fined Facebook 60 million Euros. In addition to the administrative fine, the company must provide Internet users located in France, within three months of the notification of the decision, with a means of refusing cookies that is as simple as the existing means of accepting them, in order to guarantee the freedom of their consent. Otherwise, the company may pay a penalty of 100,000 Euros per day of delay.

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Zumbul Attorneys-at-Law

info@zumbul.av.tr