France fines Microsoft €60m for advertising cookies

News » Incidents

On Thursday, France's privacy watchdog said it fined US tech giant Microsoft 60 million euros ($64 million) for foisting advertising cookies on users.

In the largest fine ever issued in 2022, the National Commission on Technology and Freedoms (CNIL) said search engine Microsoft Bing had not set up a system to allow users to opt out of cookies as easy as accepting them – with a single button.

The French regulator said that after an investigation it was found that “when users visited this site, cookies were placed on their terminals without their consent, and these cookies were used, while including for advertising purposes.

CNIL stated that the amount of the fine was justified in part because of the profits the company made from advertising indirectly derived from data collected through cookies — tiny data files that track web browsing.

Companies have been given three months to fix the problem, with a potential additional fine of €60,000 per day late.

Last year The CNIL has said it will review sites that do not comply with the web cookie policy within a year. Last year, the CNIL sanctioned Google and Facebook with fines of €150 and €60 million respectively for similar violations.

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