• Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
MUST READ

Taking over millions of developers exploiting an Open VSX Registry flaw

 | 

OneClik APT campaign targets energy sector with stealthy backdoors

 | 

APT42 impersonates cyber professionals to phish Israeli academics and journalists

 | 

Kai West, aka IntelBroker, indicted for cyberattacks causing $25M in damages

 | 

Cisco fixed critical ISE flaws allowing Root-level remote code execution

 | 

U.S. CISA adds AMI MegaRAC SPx, D-Link DIR-859 routers, and Fortinet FortiOS flaws to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog

 | 

CitrixBleed 2: The nightmare that echoes the 'CitrixBleed' flaw in Citrix NetScaler devices

 | 

Hackers deploy fake SonicWall VPN App to steal corporate credentials

 | 

Mainline Health Systems data breach impacted over 100,000 individuals

 | 

Disrupting the operations of cryptocurrency mining botnets

 | 

Prometei botnet activity has surged since March 2025

 | 

The U.S. House banned WhatsApp on government devices due to security concerns

 | 

Russia-linked APT28 use Signal chats to target Ukraine official with malware

 | 

China-linked APT Salt Typhoon targets Canadian Telecom companies

 | 

U.S. warns of incoming cyber threats following Iran airstrikes

 | 

McLaren Health Care data breach impacted over 743,000 people

 | 

American steel giant Nucor confirms data breach in May attack

 | 

The financial impact of Marks & Spencer and Co-op cyberattacks could reach £440M

 | 

Iran-Linked Threat Actors Cyber Fattah Leak Visitors and Athletes' Data from Saudi Games

 | 

SECURITY AFFAIRS MALWARE NEWSLETTER ROUND 50

 | 
  • Home
  • Cyber Crime
  • Cyber warfare
  • APT
  • Data Breach
  • Deep Web
  • Digital ID
  • Hacking
  • Hacktivism
  • Intelligence
  • Internet of Things
  • Laws and regulations
  • Malware
  • Mobile
  • Reports
  • Security
  • Social Networks
  • Terrorism
  • ICS-SCADA
  • POLICIES
  • Contact me
  • Home
  • Breaking News
  • Digital ID
  • Laws and regulations
  • France watchdog fines Google with $57 million under the EU GDPR

France watchdog fines Google with $57 million under the EU GDPR

Pierluigi Paganini January 22, 2019

The French data protection watchdog CNIL announced a fine of 50 million euros ($57 million) for US search giant Google under GDPR.The French data protection watchdog CNIL announced a fine of 50 million euros ($57 million) for US search giant Google under GDPR.

“On 21 January 2019, the CNIL’s restricted committee imposed a financial penalty of 50 Million euros against the company GOOGLE LLC, in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), for lack of transparency, inadequate information and lack of valid consent regarding the ads personalization.” reads the press release published by the CNIL.

The investigation conducted by the French watchdog was started with two complaints against Google by the non-profit organizations None Of Your Business (NOYB) and La Quadrature du Net (LQDN).
Both organizations filed a complaint against Facebook in May.

The CNIL condemned Google for the violation of transparency and consent rules under the EU GDPR,

The search engine giant made it difficult for its users to find and manage preferences on data processing purposes, data retention, in particular with regards to targeted advertising.

Google has intentionally disseminated this information among too many documents, access them required up to 6 separate actions.

Anyway, the CNIL confirmed that that information is “not always clear nor comprehensive.”

“Moreover, the restricted committee observes that some information is not always clear nor comprehensive.” continues the press release.

“Users are not able to fully understand the extent of the processing operations carried out by Google,” the Commission says. “Similarly, the information communicated is not clear enough so that the user can understand that the legal basis of processing operations for the ads personalization is the consent and not the legitimate interest of the company.”

Google French watchdog

Google was also condemned because it does not obtain its user’s explicit consent to process data for targeted advertising.

“the user not only has to click on the button “More options” to access the configuration, but the display of the ads personalization is moreover pre-ticked. However, as provided by the GDPR, consent is “unambiguous” only with a clear affirmative action from the user (by ticking a non-pre-ticked box for instance).”

The French watchdog also noted that before creating an account, the user is asked to tick the boxes « I agree to Google’s Terms of Service» and « I agree to the processing of my information as described above and further explained in the Privacy Policy» in order to proceed with the operation. But in this way, the user gives his full consent for all the processing operations purposes carried out by GOOGLE, including ads personalization, speech recognition. However, the GDPR provides that the consent must be explicit and “specific” for each purpose, broader consent is not allowed.

Are 50 euros million a big fine?

Absolutely no in comparison to the fines allowed by GDPR that could be also of 4 percent of the company’s annual global revenue.

Google has contested the decision of the French watchdog, it said that it should not apply only to the global Google.com domain.

“People expect high standards of transparency and control from us. We’re deeply committed to meeting those expectations and the consent requirements of the GDPR. We’re studying the decision to determine our next steps.” reads a statement issued by the company.

[adrotate banner=”9″] [adrotate banner=”12″]

Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – French watchdog, Google)

[adrotate banner=”5″] [adrotate banner=”13″]


facebook linkedin twitter

EU French watchdog GDPR Google Pierluigi Paganini privacy Security Affairs

you might also like

Pierluigi Paganini June 27, 2025
Taking over millions of developers exploiting an Open VSX Registry flaw
Read more
Pierluigi Paganini June 27, 2025
OneClik APT campaign targets energy sector with stealthy backdoors
Read more

leave a comment

newsletter

Subscribe to my email list and stay
up-to-date!

    recent articles

    Taking over millions of developers exploiting an Open VSX Registry flaw

    Hacking / June 27, 2025

    OneClik APT campaign targets energy sector with stealthy backdoors

    Hacking / June 27, 2025

    APT42 impersonates cyber professionals to phish Israeli academics and journalists

    APT / June 27, 2025

    Kai West, aka IntelBroker, indicted for cyberattacks causing $25M in damages

    Cyber Crime / June 26, 2025

    Cisco fixed critical ISE flaws allowing Root-level remote code execution

    Security / June 26, 2025

    To contact me write an email to:

    Pierluigi Paganini :
    pierluigi.paganini@securityaffairs.co

    LEARN MORE

    QUICK LINKS

    • Home
    • Cyber Crime
    • Cyber warfare
    • APT
    • Data Breach
    • Deep Web
    • Digital ID
    • Hacking
    • Hacktivism
    • Intelligence
    • Internet of Things
    • Laws and regulations
    • Malware
    • Mobile
    • Reports
    • Security
    • Social Networks
    • Terrorism
    • ICS-SCADA
    • POLICIES
    • Contact me

    Copyright@securityaffairs 2024

    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities...
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
    Non-necessary
    Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
    SAVE & ACCEPT