The owners of Google and Facebook were both heavily fined for using cookies illegally at the tail end of 2021 by the French data protection authority, Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Liberté (CNIL). On the French versions of Google, its sister platform YouTube, and Facebook, users were being asked to consent to cookies in such a way that it was much easier for them to accept than reject the request. They could accept cookies with just one click but there was a more laborious process for refusing.
Google owner Alphabet was fined €150 million (£125 million) and Facebook owner Meta €60 million. Alphabet was fined more because its breaches affected more people and it had been in trouble for violations in the past. Both companies were also given three months to change their systems to make it as easy for users to reject cookie requests.
