Google has said it will launch an appeal against this week’s record €50m (£44m) fine for breaching GDPR, insisting its consent process was in line with guidance provided by data regulators.
The company became the first major tech giant to be fined under the regulation when French regulator CNIL ruled that it had failed to provide transparent and easily accessible information on its consent policies.
However, a Google spokesman said: “We’ve worked hard to create a GDPR consent process for personalised ads that is as transparent and straightforward as possible, based on regulatory guidance and user experience testing.
“We’re also concerned about the impact of this ruling on publishers, original content creators and tech companies in Europe and beyond. For all these reasons, we’ve now decided to appeal.”
In July last year, Google EMEA president of business and operations Matt Brittin claimed that too much of the detail of GDPR had come too late – despite the regulation being passed two years before – and admitted that the company was “just starting” to work with partners to see how it can comply with the regulation.
The company overhauled its transparency and privacy settings when the new law came into effect in May last year.
But following complaints lodged by two privacy groups, CNIL ruled that, despite the changes, Google had failed to make users aware of how their information was being harvested to sell them personalised advertising.
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