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| Google loses bid to drop French fine of $112 million |
Google has waived a record €100 million ($112 million) fine imposed by France's data protection authority over the way it manages its cookies.
France's Supreme Administrative Court backed regulators in 2020 who criticized the search giant to automatically place trackers - often used to collect data for advertising purposes - within the devices of google.fr users as soon as they access the website.
In his ruling, the State Department judge said CNIL was right to consider that Google's actions amounted to a lack of clear information and competition for users. It also represents a failure to obtain their prior consent and an incomplete cookie blocking mechanism.
The Alphabet-owned company and French data protection regulator CNIL have sounded the alarm twice in two years about their use of cookies to track users' online activities.
Earlier this month, CNIL set a new record by fining Google 150 million euros for not making it easier for users to delete its cookies.
A spokesperson for the company said it has implemented the changes requested by CNIL in 2021. He added that the company remains committed to working constructively with regulators.
Unprecedented powers to impose fines have been granted to EU data protection authorities. This has been the case since the EU General Data Protection Regulation came into force in May 2018.
The GDPR allows them to be fined up to 4% of a company's annual global sales volume.
Google's latest fine is based on a different set of rules that govern the use of online trackers. This comes amid increasing regulatory scrutiny of tech giants around the world.
Google places files on users' devices without their consent
The company appealed to the EU's highest court earlier this month. The appeal is challenging an earlier decision upholding the $2.8 billion antitrust fine, the second time the company has attempted to overturn the fine.
In 2017, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager fined the world's most popular search engine.
This is because they used a price comparison service to gain an unfair advantage over smaller European competitors.
This case is the first of three cases in Europe in the past decade in which antitrust fines against Google have been increased to 8.25 billion euros.
In November, the General Court of the European Union rejected the company's appeal against the fine. She said the European Commission was correct in concluding that the company's practices were uncompetitive.
A Luxembourg judge rejected the company's argument that the existence of the trading platform indicated stiff competition.