France Uses New EU Privacy Law to Fine Google $56.8 Million
- French data watchdog levies its first fine under boosted power
- Panel’s decision follows complaint by Austrian group in May
Google France headquarters.
Photographer: ROMUALD MEIGNEUX/SIPA/SPPFRThis article is for subscribers only.
Alphabet Inc.’s Google was at the receiving end of a hefty fine of 50 million euros ($56.8 million) by France’s privacy regulator, which used its new powers to levy much higher penalties for the first time under European Union data protection rules.
France’s data authority CNIL said the amount of the fine was “justified by the severity of the infringements observed regarding the essential principles” of the EU’s General Data Protection Rules, or GDPR. They are “transparency, information and consent,” it said Monday in a statement.