The Cnil imposes a fine of 60 million euros on Microsoft

Microsoft company premises in Issy-les-Moulineaux, April 12, 2016. © Michel Euler / AP

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The American firm Microsoft is accused of "

".

This sanction comes from an investigation carried out by the CNIL from September 2020 to May 2021, concerning Microsoft's bing.com search engine.

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This is the largest fine imposed in 2022 by the French authority.

The Commission Nationale Informatique et Libertés announced last year that it would carry out a campaign of checks on sites that do not respect privacy, and after pinning down Google, Facebook and Amazon, the Cnil this time sanctions Microsoft by condemning the firm to a fine of 60 million euros, as announced this Thursday, December 22.

The authority justifies this amount by “

” with these cookies.

i️🔴 The CNIL imposes a penalty of 60 million euros against the company MICROSOFT IRELAND OPERATIONS LIMITED, in particular for not having put in place a mechanism to refuse #cookies as easily as to accept them 👉 https:/ /t.co/VacZbFz8jP pic.twitter.com/FSPD7VA20D

— CNIL (@CNIL) December 22, 2022

Collect user consent

Since April 1, 2021, the countries of the European Union, and France in particular, have required websites to place a panel on their pages to allow Internet users to reject or accept “cookies” as simply as possible.

These small computer files that collect private data, give Internet giants the possibility of bombarding Internet users with so-called “targeted” ads.

Moreover, with this fine, the French digital regulator obliges Microsoft to collect, within three months, the consent of Internet users in France who could not easily accept or refuse these advertising cookies.

Otherwise, the firm will be liable to pay a penalty payment of 60,000 euros per day of delay.

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