https://www.scmagazine.com/analysis/compliance/microsoft-fined-64-million-by-france-over-cookies-used-in-bing-searches

 
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Microsoft fined $64 million by France over cookies used in Bing
searches

Menghan XiaoDecember 23, 2022
[122322_bin]In a move to enforce tightening data protection laws,
France fined Microsoft $64 million for its cookies policies used in
Bing searches. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Bing)

France's privacy watchdog fined Microsoft EUR60 million ($64 million)
for not offering clear enough instruction for users to reject cookies
used for online ads, as part of the move to enforce Europe's
tightening data protection law.

CNIL, France's digital privacy regulator, said Thursday that it
carried out several investigations on the Microsoft search engine
Bing in September 2020 and May 2021 and found that the site dropped
advertising cookies in users' terminals without their explicit
consent.

The website also lacked a button for users to reject cookies as
simply as accepting them, CNIL said, where two clicks were required
to refuse all cookies while only one was needed to accept them.

Cookies are small files that track and monitor the sites users have
visited and are often used to help personalize online ads. According
to CNIL, the $64 million fine against Microsoft is justified partly
because of the scope of revenue the company made from advertising
indirectly generated from the data collected via cookies.

Microsoft has been ordered to solve the issue within three months by
implementing a simplified cookie refusal mechanism, or it could face
additional fines of EUR60,000 a day, CNIL said.

A Microsoft spokesperson noted in a statement shared with SC Media
that the company had already made changes to include a button for
advertising cookies even before the investigation started, but it
remained concerned with the CNIL's requirement to collect consent for
cookies used to detect advertising fraud.

"We believe the CNIL's position will harm French individuals and
businesses by allowing fraud to spread online," the statement noted.

The Microsoft spokesperson told SC Media that the company has not yet
decided whether to appeal the CNIL order on advertising fraud.

The fine is a part of broader efforts for the French regulator
pushing tech giants to comply with new rules on cookies. Earlier this
year, CNIL fined Google EUR150 million and Meta EUR60 million over the
same issue.

[]Menghan XiaoMenghan Xiao
Menghan Xiao

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