Google LLC – €150,000,000 Fine (France, 2021)

€150,000,000Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés31 December 2021France
final
ePrivacy
Fine

Google was fined EUR 150 million by the French data protection authority for making it harder to refuse cookies than to accept them on its websites. This case is significant because it shows that companies must make rejecting cookies as easy as accepting them.

What happened

Google made it harder for users to refuse cookies than to accept them on its websites.

Who was affected

Visitors to google.fr and youtube.com who found it difficult to reject cookies.

What the authority found

The authority ruled that Google's cookie settings violated user consent rules by making it harder to refuse cookies than to accept them.

Why this matters

This ruling highlights the need for companies to ensure that their cookie consent processes are user-friendly and balanced. It sets a precedent that rejecting cookies must be as easy as accepting them.

GDPR Articles Cited

AI-verified

Art. 5(3) ePrivacy Directive GDPR
Art. 56 GDPR
Art. 82 Loi Informatique et Libertés GDPR
View original scraped data
Art. 56 GDPR
Art. 82 Loi Informatique et Libertés
Art. 5(3) ePrivacy Directive

Original data from scraper before AI verification against source document.

National Law Articles

AI-identified

Loi "Informatique et Libertés"

Entities Involved

Google LLC
Google Ireland Limited
Source verified 4 March 2026
articles corrected
national law identified
entity split needed
France enforcementCommission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés actionsAll Google LLC actions
Full Legal Summary
Detailed

Google's cookie banner on google.fr lacked an equally prominent reject button, making it harder to refuse cookies than to accept them.

Violations (4)

No Reject Button
critical

Cookie banner does not provide a clear reject/refuse all button at the same level as the accept button.

Art. 7 GDPR

Reject Harder Than Accept
critical

Refusing cookies requires more clicks or steps than accepting them, or the reject option is less visually prominent.

Art. 7 GDPR

Cookies Placed Before Consent
critical

Non-essential cookies (tracking, advertising) are placed on the user's device before obtaining valid consent.

Art. 6(1) GDPR

Unclear Cookie Information
high

The cookie banner or cookie policy provides vague, incomplete, or unclear information about what cookies are used and why.

Art. 12, 13 GDPR

Related Enforcement Actions (4)

Other enforcement actions involving Google LLC in FR

Fine
Jan 2019· Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés

The fine was imposed on the basis of complaints from the Austrian organisation 'None Of Your Business' and the French NGO 'La Quadrature du Net'. The ...

€50.0M
Court Ruling
Mar 2021· Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés

On December, 7 2020, the French DPA imposed a financial penalty of 60 Million euros fine against Google LLC and a 40 million euros against Google Irel...

Fine
Dec 2021· Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés

Google's websites required more steps to reject cookies than to accept them, interfering with users' freedom of consent.

€90.0M
Current
Dec 2021

Fine

€150.0M

Fine
Sept 2025· Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés

The case involved advertising emails sent without consent, unrelated to cookie or consent banner issues.

€325.0M

Similar Cases

Enforcement actions with similar violations

Data Subject versus Telecommunications Company

2025 · DPA OLGKoblenz

Legal Person

2023 · Úřad pro ochranu osobních údajů

€4K

Ramona Films, S.L.

2022 · Agencia Española de Protección de Datos

€8K

CNIL

2019 · Court of Justice of the European Union

Minister for Legal Protection

2022 · DPA RbOverijssel

Details

Fine Date

31 December 2021

Authority

Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés

Fine Amount

€150,000,000

GDPRhub ID

gdprhub-4483

Sources

About this data

Data: GDPRhub (noyb.eu)
Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
AI-verified and classified
Cookie relevance: 100%

Cite as: Cookie Fines. Google LLC - France (2021). Retrieved from cookiefines.eu

Report Inaccuracy

Last updated: