San Francisco : Google and Facebook have been fined a combined $235 million for tracking cookies in France.

The National Commission for Informatics and Freedoms (CNIL) plans to fine Google 150 million euros and Facebook 60 million euros for breaching French data privacy rules, according to a Politico report citing a document.

Reports on Wednesday evening said the action was being taken “by not allowing French users to easily disallow cookie tracking technology”.

The two tech giants will be fined an additional 100,000 euros per day for not resolving the issues within three months of CNIL’s decision.

“We are reviewing the authority’s decision and are committed to working with the appropriate authorities,” a META spokesperson said in the report.

“Our cookie consent controls give people more control over their data, including a new settings menu on Facebook and Instagram where people can review and manage their decisions at any time, and we continue to develop and improve These controls, “said the spokesperson.

Google has not commented on the report.

This is not the first time that the French privacy regulator has fined Big Tech.

In December 2020, CNIL fined Amazon and Google €35 million and €100 million, respectively, for cookies’ violations of electronic privacy rules.

The watchdog also fined Google 50 million euros under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

As reported by ZDNet, WhatsApp was fined 225 million euros in September last year for “not being transparent about how it shared data with its parent company”.

Facebook also faces millions in fines for violating GDPR privacy rules on deceptive data collection policies.

(IANS)