© Reuters. Illustration showing a broken Ethernet cable and the Microsoft logo /Photo prize March 11, 2022/REUTERS/Dado Ruvic
PARIS (Reuters) – France’s National Commission for Computing and Liberties (CNIL) announced on Thursday that it has decided to impose a fine of 60 million euros on Microsoft (NASDAQ:) Ireland.
The Cnil, whose committee took this decision on Monday, criticizes Microsoft in particular for “not having put in place a mechanism to refuse cookies as easily as to accept them”.
Microsoft said it regrets this decision which, according to the American company, will facilitate online advertising fraud.
“We worked with CNIL and communicated important changes to our cookie practices even before this investigation began,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Reuters.
“We believe that the CNIL’s position will harm French companies and users by facilitating online fraud,” he added.
(Written by Tangi Salaün in Paris, with Foo Yun Chee in Brussels, edited by Myriam Rivet and Blandine Hénault)