First European publisher hit with a GDPR fine over dropping cookies without consent

Last month, CNIL, the French data protection watchdog, fined Le Figaro, a French publisher, €50,000, for dropping cookies without user consent.

According to Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL), cookies were automatically placed on each computer by partners of the company, without action on his part or despite the refusal. CNIL says several of the cookies were for an advertising purpose and should have been subject to the user’s consent.

CNIL states that despite implementing a Consent Management Platform, cookies subject to consent were deposited before any action by the Internet user or continue to be read despite his refusal.