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Google Fined $57 Million by French Commission
By: TheStreet | January 21, 2019

European group alleges Google made it too tough to manage personal information used for targeted ads.

A French commission has fined Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL - Get Report) 's Google LLC about $57 million (50 Million euros) for an alleged "lack of transparency, inadequate information and lack of valid consent regarding" personalized, or targeted, ads.

The fine came from the regulator known as the National Data Protection Commission, or CNIL.

The violations came after the French regulator got group complaints in May from two associations, one called None Of Your Business and the other, La Quadrature du Net.

CNIL inspected Google's European headquarters, which are based in Ireland, in September, and determined that Google made managing use of personal information used for targeted ads too cumbersome.

The commission claimed that Google's "infringements" deprive "users of essential guarantees regarding processing operations that can reveal important parts of their private life since they are based on a huge amount of data, a wide variety of services and almost unlimited possible combinations."

CNIL added that, "the violations are continuous breaches of the Regulation as they are still observed to date. It is not a one-off, time-limited, infringement."

The move marks the first time the commission applied its new sanction limits provided by the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation.

Google did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment, but told other media that it was "studying the decision to determine our next steps."

Alphabet, is slated to release its fourth quarter 2018 financial results Feb. 4 at 4:30 p.m. ET.

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