Google, Amazon Fined $163 Million by French Data Watchdog

Data protection agency levies record Google privacy fine
Google, Amazon put cookies on users’ computers without consent

Google Chrome Web browser — Photographer: Gokhan Balci/Getty Images

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By Stephanie Bodoni

December 10, 2020 at 7:33 AM UTC

Updated on

December 10, 2020 at 12:56 PM UTC

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Google racked up another record fine in the European Union, this time a 100 million-euro ($121 million) penalty from France’s privacy watchdog over the way it manages cookies on its search engine.

CNIL, France’s data protection authority, also slapped online shopping giant Amazon.com Inc. with a 35 million-euro fine for placing cookies, which are tracking devices, on people’s computers without their consent, according to a statement on Thursday.